Asian, Cajun or French — I really don’t know. But when I got home last Monday, the delicious, buttery aroma coming out of the kitchen called my name. I ate (ok, almost licked) everything that was put on my plate by my roommate. Amused, Josh said that he was glad I liked his frog legs recipe (scroll down to the bottom to see it).
WHAT?
Mmmm!
Frog legs. I ate frog legs. I was the guinea pig for my roommate’s frog legs recipe. I’ve had my fair share of quirky travel food, but never in a million years did I ever think I could ever possibly eat frog anything. Yes, as much of a hyperbole as the former sentence was — those were my feelings towards frogs. But oh, how things can change!
Don’t look at me like that.
If anything, you can always try this frog legs recipe, a French fusion dish according to Josh, on your friends and see what they think. But I kid you not, as you are cooking, you’ll be tempted to try the sauce. THEN, you’ll be hooked 😉
Plus, once cooked on a plate, they don’t look so much like little human legs
Be adventurous for once. YOLO!
(Gosh, I did not just say that)
Another simple frog legs recipe: Cover them in batter and deep fry them, just like chicken wings! (sorta). Photo: JaulaDeArdilla, Flickr
A bit of history: Frog legs in French cuisine
Frog legs have been eaten by the southern Chinese (since first century AD) and even the Aztecs. However, you will never guess how they became a well-known French delicacy (source: The Guardian UK)?
Hint: Monks and the Catholic Church. I see you laughing — just keep reading.
Apparently, monks were getting a little chubby back in 12th-century France. For this reason, the Catholic Church decided to put them on a diet — no meat for you! (Except for a few select days of the year).
Brilliantly (or not so much?), the monks could get away with classifying frogs as fish, so they could eat as many of their meaty legs as they wished. Whether they could still lose the weight or not, we don’t know (wouldn’t that be a brilliant fad diet though?!). What we do know is that religious, starving French peasants followed suit and the rest is history.
Now, let’s get you cookin’ mesdemoiselles and messieurs!
Hostel Cooking series: Amphibian recipe
Citrus-honey frog legs with quinoa
Print recipeDirections
| What you need: | |
| Step 1 | |
| 3 tablespoons honey 1 clove garlic, minced 1/2 cup orange juice 2 habanero peppers, chopped (don't forget to wear gloves!) 1 pound frog legs Salt and pepper 2 tablespoon olive oil 4 tablespoons thinly sliced onion 3 tablespoons of butter 3 tablespoons cornstarch 1 tablespoon chopped parsley | |
| Get cookin | |
| Step 2 | |
| Stir together the first 8 ingredients. Toss frog legs in marinade to coat evenly, then set aside. Marinate for about 1 hour. | |
| Step 3 | |
| Drain the frog legs well, reserving marinade, and toss with cornstarch to coat. | |
| Step 4 | |
| Heat the butter in a large iron skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the legs until golden brown and crispy, about 2 minutes per side. | |
| Step 5 | |
| While the frog legs are cooking, bring the marinade to a simmer in a small saucepan. Simmer for 3 minutes. | |
| Step 6 | |
| Cook quinoa (as directed in package). Serve hot frog legs over warm quinoa, pouring marinade over. Garnish with parsley. | |
Voilà!
Would you try this frog legs recipe?
Surprisingly easy to find and make!
I would eat it, but I would not like to prepare the frogs myself. I have eaten frogs legs before and they tasted fine.
I have to admit… I never thought I could eat them… Until my roommate prepared them this delicious! I do believe practice makes perfect when it comes to cooking.
One piece of advice is that you must eat them while they are really really hot. Even lukewarm they will taste very differently… And not very good 😉
I am not sure…what’s the texture like? I’ll eat any animal as long as its meat has the ‘standard’ consistency of beef, pork and chicken, but I’ll freak out if it’s chewy or there are cruncy bits…
surprisingly, the texture wasn’t odd at all. June must eat them while really hot, just out of the skillet though. Otherwise, they may start resembling chewy cartilage 😉 try this recipe and let me know!
Sacre bleu!
I thought I was adventurous when it comes to food but just looking at the legs made me think of frogs. No matter how great they smelled and looked, that wouldn’t erase the image of a frog — something I hate even to look at.
thankfully, that photo of the frog legs on top was taken after I had eaten the dish. My roommate made sure he put everything on a plate, making it look all pretty, before I arrived so I would eat it 😉 haha! It worked
I’m still surprised I loved this dish so much. SO full of flavor, would have never been able to guess it was a frog… until he showed me the uncooked legs later!
Afraid frog legs and liver rank right up there with duck, horse and tongue. . .on my ‘if starving on a desert somewhere’ list. But I have to admire the step-by-step directions and photos. Nicely done!
but this frog legs recipe is so so delicious! And how could you not like Thai duck?! it’s sooo good. have you ever had it?
I do agree with tongue and liver though… I can’t eat those either…
Looks yummy. I never try frog legs…
try this frog legs recipe, I promise you they are so so good!
The frog wings look so yummy :):) and seem to be pretty easy to cook. I might try to cook them one day. I’m so bad at cooking, but I love eating 🙂
Hhaha, same here Agness! but thankfully, Josh is helping us cook with all these simple, yet delicious recipes. Let me know if you try them and how they come out!
Hmmmm, sounds and looks delicious!
Frog legs aren’t just a common dish in France, in Belgium you can easily get them as well. There also nice in garlic butter with some bread. Tastes just like chicken!
really? Interesting! Thanks for your comment 🙂
Man, I don’t know. I must admit the last photo with the quinoa looks tempting. That said, having seen the pics with the little human-like legs first. . .the legs would def give me pause. And I thought I was an adventurous eater!
as soon as you smell it, you’ll want to eat it. Promise! Cook this as is and see
Frogs are in the air! Barbara from The Dropout Diaries just posted about her experience eating fried tree frogs. From a street vendor on a Cambodian roadside no less! 2 blog posts re: tasting frogs. Maybe it is a sign that I should give it a go. Here’s the link to Barbara’s blog post: www(.)thedropoutdiaries(.)com/2012/11/friday-food-photo-fried-frogs
I can’t say I’ll be making these any time soon, but good to know in case I ever get a craving for amphibian!