Viande de Kangourous au Canada

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Much ado about Roo
Kangaroo is low in fat and better for the planet than beef, according to a Greenpeace report
Randy Shore, Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, December 14, 2007
The market for kangaroo meat has a new bounce in its step since a scientist in Australia touted roo as an environmentally friendly alternative to beef.

In a report commissioned by Greenpeace, Dr. Mark Diesendorf says cutting beef production in Australia by 20 per cent and substituting kangaroo meat would save 15 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions over the next 12 years.

Gripped by a crippling drought, Australia is taking note of anything that could slow climate change.

Kangaroo is starting to turn up on menus at "white table cloth" establishments around Vancouver, says Mark Hills of Hills Foods, Canada's sole importer of roo.

He names The Locus Cafe, La Belle Auberge and Aussie theme pub Moose's Down Under as regular buyers, but says he is just now in a position to maintain a regular supply for his customers -- an essential assurance for chefs considering regular menu items.

"It shows up mainly in specials at the moment," Hills said. "Supply was a bit spotty before."

Before Hills received an entire container load of kangaroo, that is.

"I had hoped to get that container in August, then we would have seen kangaroo on fall menus," said Hills.

As it is, roo seems like a natural for spring.

With 15,750 kilograms of "australus" now on Canadian shores in Hills' warehouse, maintaining a steady supply will no longer be an issue.

That will be good news to Locus chef Todd Boyer, who has used ground kangaroo meat for hamburgers and serves topside, a cut from high on the leg, as a special every few weeks.

"We cut it into medallions, like a scallopini," Boyer said. "It is a very low fat meat, so we just sear it very quickly with a light seasoning."

The flavour, he says, is gamy but "not overpowering."

For hamburgers, Boyer adds a little pork fat so the patties don't dry out.

Boyer sees the market for kangaroo picking up, now that the price is dropping, although to his customers, novelty may be more important than price.

"Last week, we did a camel strip loin, we have some alligator on this week," said Boyer. "We like to use whatever new products [Hills] have in that the rest of the market isn't using yet."

The opportunity to grow a market for roo in Canada only arrived with Hills' sea container a few weeks ago. It took Hills two decades to convince the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to allow him to import for sale.

When the world came to Vancouver for Expo 86, Hills took note of some of the game meats sought by countries hosting the international pavilions.

Hills was inspired to develop a game meat business and began sourcing obscure meats. He found Australia did in fact have a domestic kangaroo meat industry.

He wrote a letter to the CFIA asking for permission to import roo. They were unmoved, he said.

Hills was a bit ahead of his time.

"Back then, we had a hard time selling bison and venison," he recalled. "It took 10 years for the business to really get going.

"Until then, there were some lean years," he said.

CFIA approval might have come sooner had he accepted the government's offer to send Canadian inspectors to Australia at his own expense. He didn't.

Kangaroo is low in fat and better for the planet than beef, according to a Greenpeace report
Randy Shore, Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, December 14, 2007
The CFIA finally relented and inspected the Australian slaughter and packing facilities, piggybacking the inspection on a regular tour of cattle and sheep processing plants. That cleared the way for Hills' shipments, about 20 years after he wrote his first inquiry.

Now, it seems, the timing is right. Even Greenpeace is on board with eating kangaroo, so long as it means raising fewer cattle, whose flatulence is a major source of greenhouse gases.

Bacteria in the digestive tract of cattle is what produces the methane. So now scientists are looking into transferring the bacteria from kangaroo stomachs into sheep and cattle to see if they can build a cleaner cow. Until then, roo is the greener way to go.


The red and grey species of kangaroo that make their way to our tables are taken from the wild by licensed hunters.

About 30 million kg of kangaroo is harvested in Australia, although less than one-third of that is eaten by Australians. Russia imports more than 10 million kilos and significant markets exist in France, Belgium and Germany.

The $200-million industry is dwarfed by beef exports, which bring Australia about $5 billion a year.

Despite their symbolic status as Australia's national animal, kangaroos are considered a voracious and fast-breeding pest and numbered up to 50 million in 2005, before the current drought.

rshore@png.canwest.com

KANGAROO MEAT: LEAN, LOW-FAT, HIGH IN PROTEIN AND IRON

Nutritional composition and comparison with other meats:

Protein Fat Kilojoules Cholesterol Iron

% % per 100g mg/100g mg/100g

Kangaroo 24 1 - 2 500 56 2.6

Lean lamb 22 2 - 7 530 66 1.8

Lean beef 22 2 - 5 500 67 3.5

Lean pork 23 1 - 3 440 50 1.0

Lean chicken breast 23 2 470 50 0.6

Rabbit 22 2 - 4 520 70 1.0

Source: CSIRO Food Research Quarterly, 42, pp. 57-60 Vancouver Sun

RECIPES

ROO MEATBALLS IN ROASTED RED PEPPER TOMATO SAUCE

The sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 medium onion, diced

2 red bell peppers, blackened, seeded and peeled (use jarred roasted red peppers to speed things up)

1 14-oz. can crushed tomatoes

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

The meatballs

1 454-gram package ground kangaroo

1/4 cup fine bread crumbs

1/4 cup onion, minced

1 garlic clove, minced

1 large egg

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon water

Method

Sauce: Saute garlic and diced onion with olive oil in a large saucepan until soft. Dice roasted red peppers and add to the saucepan. As the veggies soften mash them with a spoon, or toss the mixture into a food processor if you like a smooth sauce. Add crushed tomatoes and salt and pepper and simmer until the tomatoes sweeten. (Just taste it every 15 minutes or so; you'll know when you're there.) Set aside.

Meatballs: Mix all ingredients in a bowl just until combined. Form into balls as big around as a Loonie. In a large skillet over medium high heat, add olive oil and sear meatballs on two sides. Plop into the sauce to simmer for 20 minutes.

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Serve as a messy hors d'oeuvre or toss with pasta.

SEARED KANGAROO LOIN FILET

1 sprig fresh rosemary


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Font:****2 teaspoons sea salt

1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Olive oil to form a paste

1 kilo kangaroo loin filet (four loins), thawed

Pre-heat oven to 400 F.

In a mortar and pestle, grind rosemary, salt and pepper with oil to form a paste. Smear the oil mixture over the loins and let stand for an hour until the meat is at room temperature. In a cast-iron skillet over high heat, sear the loins for about two minutes on each side. Place the skillet, loins and all, in a 400 F oven for 10 minutes for rare meat. Add a minute or two if you get a really fat loin. Remove from oven and wrap each loin with foil and let stand five to 10 minutes to let the juices settle. Cut into one-cm thick slices across the grain of the meat. Serve immediately. Serves six.

LOW FAT AND DARN TASTY

The Vancouver Sun's in-office taste test employed two typical beef preparations of kangaroo: Italian meat balls in roasted red pepper tomato sauce and pan-seared loin filet.

The ground kangaroo was $3.84 for a 454-gram packet. The loin filet cost $26.05 for little over a kilo, which gave us four good-sized loins to feed six to eight adults.

Kangaroo is naturally low in fat -- only one to two per cent -- leaner than most lean beef, lamb or chicken breast.

Hills sells eight different cuts of Kangaroo, including tail for braising and pre-made burger patties seasoned with wild Australian pepperberry. The patties are 30 per cent organic beef fat, as pure kangaroo burgers dry out when thoroughly cooked.

The verdict from our tasting panel:

- Delicious and very similar to beef, but a little sweeter. It had a slight aftertaste that wasn't too strong. Very tender and didn't taste at all "gamy." I would definitely buy it.

- Texture of the meat ball was very similar to ground beef, and superior to ground turkey, which tends to disintegrate when you cook it instead of staying in nice crumb-sized bits. Flavour of the loin cut was mild, kind of neutral, not at all gamy. I'd try a roo hamburger.

- Tastes good ... similar to beef, but just different enough to make a nice change. Kind of in between beef and deer/moose.

- At first taste of the meatballs, I enjoyed the kangaroo, but then I started thinking about Skippy and his cute little face. After eating the tenderloin, however, Skippy be damned. I'd eat this anytime, especially if it saves the planet.

- Nice colour, looks like beef. Has that vaguely liver-ish taste you find in other game meat such as venison and moose, but it's quite faint in comparison to those critters. Not a detriment. Very tender.

- First impressions of the seasoned ground kangaroo meat were pleasant, and were decidedly reminiscent of veal. But then, after swallowing, the tide of the back-palate taste came lapping in, and brought with it - halibut. Loin was a rich, solid meat that I thought similar to reindeer, which I used to eat in Norway, and also venison.

The only company that imports kangaroo meat is Hills Foods, #1-130 Glacier St., Coquitlam, www.hillsfoods.com

Hills distributes game meats to specialty retailers, health food stores, butchers and restaurants. Customers can also buy direct from Hills Foods.

The Vancouver Sun DIGITAL



The Vancouver Sun 2007
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun

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Il y a 10 minutes, aux nouvelles télévisées de la France, ils disaient qu'étant donné que les kangourous ne produisaient pas de CO2, ils étaient en train de voir à faire un truc semblable pour qu'il en soit ainsi de l'estomac des ruminants.