A recipe with a difference – have you tried horse meat?

When Fred Berkmiller first suggested putting horse meat on the menu in his Scottish restaurants 20 years ago, he was laughed out of town.

Now his customers can’t get enough of unusual cuts of meat.

‘If I’d tried to serve heart, horsemeat or lambs’ testicles in the 1990s, I would have been told no chance,’ says the French chef.

‘But the whole country is fed up of prawn cocktail and avocado followed by a fillet steak. They want real food again. Food is your fuel and also your way of life. People want to enjoy life again.’

Like rabbit, which came back into fashion in the 1990s, horsemeat is enjoying a renaissance.

This was partly propelled by the horsemeat scandal of 2013, where beef burgers were found to contain cuts of horse, highlighting the low quality of processed meats.

In fact, horsemeat can be an ethical choice. As Berkmiller points out, the meat he uses is from a breed that would be dying out if it was not being farmed in a sustainable manner.

(This recipe was originally published in 2015)

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