I have hunted in Finland too, and before I left for Australia I was tickled by the idea of a kangaroo hunt. I did not think it a serious possibility and was only toying with the thought. Australia has strict gun laws compared with Finland, and I assumed they would get in the way of hunting tourism. On the day I left I did put a flame-grilled kangaroo of my own shooting on my wish list here, but the same post also promised wombat cutlets and kangaroo pouch soup.
Instead of the usual ticking off of cities I decided to make my Australian trip a little different: I booked myself onto a ten-day safari from Sydney to Alice Springs, through the hot, dry outback and its deserts. We travelled in a minibus built on a four-wheel drive, and in this vehicle with no air conditioning the kilometres ran to several thousand in spite of daytime temperatures of 35-45 degrees. The safari was pretty tough both physically and mentally, and the heat quite literally wrung me dry. Towards the end the going got easier, though, as the body got used to the heat. In the evenings we sat round a campfire, and the same fire served as the cooker when dinner was made. At night we slept under the open sky, with the unfamiliar stars of the south and a bright moon lighting the landscape.
About halfway through the trip we spent a couple of days at Iga Warta in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia, among the Adnyamathanha, the Aboriginal people of those hills. There the chance came up to join a kangaroo hunt. The guide took care of the shooting and of dealing with the carcass, and posing with the kangaroo was left to us. Be that as it may, fresh roast kangaroo was on its way, and what could be nicer.
For some reason I have always imagined kangaroos as animals as tall as a man, so the small size of the creatures came as a surprise. You do not see many of them in the daytime, either. At sunset, on the other hand, driving gets interesting, as cows, kangaroos, camels and smaller animals too make for the road, drawn by the headlights. It was as well to be ready for sudden braking, and the bus drivers tried to warn us of it by shouting SKIPPY! Skippy is the kangaroo of an old Australian children's series, and everybody there knows him.
Our party did not find eating Skippy a problem. The Aussies themselves seem to be more squeamish, since according to The Age a Sydney food magazine ran a competition in December to find kangaroo meat a new and more appetising name (the winner was australus). In any case there were treats in store for the following evening. Our guide Craig (skinning the tail in the picture above) took me completely by surprise by announcing that he was going to make Oz 'roo pyttipanna, that is, kangaroo pyttipanna, the Scandinavian fry-up of diced potato and meat. The Scandinavians have evidently penetrated Australia rather well... Oz is a nickname for Australia and, as far as I understand, has nothing to do with the Wizard of Oz.
Craig's kangaroo pyttipanna was downright delicious, though so was everything else stewed in the cast-iron pot over the fire at the end of long and exhausting days.
I never got round to asking for the exact recipe, but you get fairly close by dicing potatoes, sweet potato, onions and meat (kangaroo leg in the helping pictured), seasoning them with salt and herbs (rosemary and thyme, as far as I remember) and adding a splash of Craig's secret sauce, Worcestershire sauce. The stew simmered on the fire for an hour to an hour and a half. In Finland a piece of beef round would surely do in place of the kangaroo.
Recipe card
Oz 'roo pyttipanna
- Pot cast iron
- Stewing 1-1 1/2 hours on a campfire
You will need
| potatoes | |
| sweet potato | |
| onions | |
| meat (kangaroo leg in the helping pictured) | |
| salt | |
| herbs (rosemary and thyme, as far as I remember) | |
| Worcestershire sauce |
Method
- Dice the potatoes, sweet potato, onions and meat.
- Season with salt and herbs and add a splash of Worcestershire sauce.
- Stew in a cast-iron pot on a campfire for an hour to an hour and a half.
In Finland a piece of beef round would surely do in place of the kangaroo.
2 comments
Hello,
Just passing and found this picture. I have tried crocodile meat,a bit of a chicken texture, but not kangaroo meat. It was during a national day of Australia in a hotel in Solomon Island.
Hi relly, Thanks for visiting! The kangaroo meat was pretty good, and I have made it also in Finland, albeit obviously being supermarket-bought 😉
I ventured to your blog, Franco-Pinay Food Adventure, and the stuffed zuchinis look simply adorable! I'm currently braising a batch of tomatoes, but I'll definitely try those zuchinis very soon!