Stahlke Adoption

Mystery Meat

A neighbor on our street frequents food pantries and often brings us their overages. A few months ago, we had almost emptied our freezer of the meat she had brought. The only package left was some ground meat in a plastic wrapper with the following labeled boxes:

1 Venison

2 Elk

3 Antelope

4 Buffalo

5 Moose

Unfortunately, none of the boxes were checked.

That day had already been busy. Four of the children had visited the dentist, Jonathan and I were getting prepared for the funeral of a colleague that evening, and a babysitter would arrive imminently. It was not a good day for challenges. I quickly prepared pasta, cut up some raw broccoli, and fried up patties with the only meat left in the house.

At supper, we all sampled the meat, which tasted like liver, but more fatty and "gamey." David was the first to inquire, "What IS this?" Someone told him it was probably buffalo, which the children have tasted before.

Paul hadn't been listening, but after he tasted the meat asked us, "WHAT is this?" We then told the kids about the packaging, and that we didn't know what kind of meat it was. The girls screamed, and the whole table erupted into an uproar.

We told the kids that their Uncle Mark, an outdoorsman, likes to eat this kind of meat. That settled them down, and they picked up their forks and ate every last bite of "hunters' food."

posted by Stahlkes @ 12:07 PM