[Sca-cooks] Big Eggs

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Also sprach Mina:
>OK delurking
>
>AS emu (as oposed to ostrich) is a bird only found in Australia, I dought if
>it is period

I think the reasoning behind the suggestion that it was period for
the Mid-East was more a comment on the cook in question than on the
bird. Actually Lord Ras asked me how he might present emu in a
non-intrusive fashion, and I suggested the reference to the roc in
the Thousand and One Nights, the bit about the roc, which feedeth its
young on elephants.

>with that noted please be aware that you treat emu as a game meat (and as
>such) must be properly cooked (no trendy rare to medium rare meat please)
>unless you wish to risk your feaster,  I would asume that you would treat
>ostrich the same way

Okay, now I'm curious. What's the justification for taking a
farm-raised bird (most of the emu and ostrich eaten in the world
probably _is_ farmed), which is pretty lean and not full of
intramuscular connective tissue, and cooking it any more than medium?
Is it subject to some specific disease or pathogen that is only
killed at a certain temperature (trichinosis, salmonella, etc.)? _Is_
there a risk to the feaster? Or are the thighs (which, I gather, are
the main "meaty" portions of a large, flightless bird) full of
gristle that softens when cooked well-done? Or is it just "because
it's game and you cook game well-done"?

>Dominica (who has killed ans prepared many kangaroos and goannas, but not
>emu (yet))

Adamantius, who has never cooked emu, and therefore curious