Suggest an exotic meat for smoking

[Danny Tanner]

I have acquired a gift card to The Meat House butcher shop and I'm wanting to pick up something different to throw on the smoker. I don't doubt that their pork, beef and poultry has the potential to be better than what I get at Crest, so I'm not against picking up a higher quality meat of the same type and cut I'm familiar with, but I'd like to try something different.

They mention that they have bison, venison, alligator, ostrich and boar as some of their exotic meats available, but you can have them order even more, apparently. I've had gator a few times and it was hit or miss, but some gator ribs might be okay. I'm really looking for something that was once inside a fluffy brown buffalo, as it's my favorite red meat. Elk would be a consideration, but I've never had any sort of smoked venison. I'm curious how much of a difference there is between a smoked [pulled] shoulder from a farm pig and a boar. Has anyone smoked a boar shoulder?

Whichever meat and cuts I get, they must be able to fit on a 22.5" grate and go well smoked over the typical available woods (apple, cherry, hickory, etc).

 

[UnSafe]

Whole piglet?

 

[AdvantageR1]

I've smoked wild boar before and to me it is nothing like the oinker you buy in a store (not cured). It had a beefier (?) taste.

I would go for a thick cut if elk. Elk meat has been my favorite wild game so far.

 

[Danny Tanner]

Whole piglet?

Oh, I wish! I just don't have the space. I'm on a drum smoker, so it'd have to be a tiny little chihuahua-sized piglet.

I've smoked wild boar before and to me it is nothing like the oinker you buy in a store (not cured). It had a beefier (?) taste.

I would go for a thick cut if elk. Elk meat has been my favorite wild game so far.

Do you recall which cut of boar you smoked? Beefier pork might be pretty interesting.

I don't know much about venison (in the context that the Meat House uses it: deer-like creatures), so which cut is a good candidate for smoking?

 

[Brandi]

I've heard wild boar, alligator and kangaroo are excellent choices for the smoker.

 

[TwoForFlinching]

Bison will always be awesome. Ostrich is a great smoke meat! I'd be interested in how elk smokes, given its so lean, I wonder if it would come out good.

 

[twocan]

Goat.

 

[Okie4570]

Elk compared to deer venison shouldn't even remotely be grouped in the same class, definitely go with the elk............ostrich would be my second choice. A friend of my dad's used to raise those psychotic bird in the 80's, they eat really well.

 

[Spata]

I hear eskimo is sweet with a subtle gamey taste.

 

[AdvantageR1]

I smoked the back quarters. They were really good.