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Despite rumors that Bojangles, North Carolina’s fast-food underdog, was finally rolling out their revolutionary reindeer nuggets this month, that has not come to pass.
However, other restaurants are disregarding convention (and the cries of children) as they opt to roast Rudolph rather than sing about his
nose.
This Christmas, Arizona restaurateur
Payton Curry is looking to top his Easter success (when he offered an
all-bunny menu). So this Yuletide, he’s cooking caribou — that’s our
North American version of reindeer — which tastes similar to elk and
buffalo.
At his Caffe Boa in
Tempe, Curry will start you on caribou tartare.
Then comes caribou tongue bruschetta with pickled watermelon radish and
horseradish cream. There’s caribou sausage, caribou Bolognese pasta,
and caribou-filled tortellini.
In Sweden, they
sell reindeer
salami at Ikea! After all, the nomadic Sami people from
Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Russia have been making meatballs from
Donner and Blitzen for centuries.
Reindeer
hash, with strips of frozen Cupid (or Comet), mashed potatoes, and
lingonberry jam, is quite popular with Arctic Circlers. Smoked reindeer
dishes are big in Finland as well.
In
fact, those Laplanders know how to do Dasher up quite divinely, as the
following recipe attests:
Finnish Sauteed Reindeer (Poronkaristys)
Serves
six reindeer-hating heathens.
800 grams sliced
reindeer (poronkäristysliha) 50 grams butter 3 deciliters beer2
small onions 1 ½ tsp salt 3 tbs flour ½
tsp ground black or white pepper
Brown the
sliced reindeer meat and chopped onions in butter, preferably in a cast
iron casserole pot. Season the meat with salt and pepper and add the
flour, stir. Add the beer and stir again.
Place the lid on top of the pot and allow to simmer at a low heat for
approximately one hour.
Serve the Sautéed
Reindeer hot together with mashed potatoes, lingonberry jam, pickled
beetroots, and pickled cucumbers.
Lie to the
kids and dig in.
Follow Clean Plate Charlie on Twitter: @CleanPlateBPB.
