For Lent if you get tired of fish, try muskrat
Andrew Norton
Um, yeah. So I came across this video from the Detroit Free Press where columnist Mike Wendland reports that
It was French fur trappers who introduced the muskrat as a food source to southeastern Michigan in the 18th century. French settlers later appealed to their bishop to allow muskrat to be a fish substitute. And every Lent, there are still those who love their rat.
The 2.5 minute video shows how Kola's Food Factory in Riverview cooks them up. From what I could see in the video it appears the entire (skinned) muskrat is fried up in a skillet with a ton of butter. Mike Wendland interviews a patron at Kola's eating a muskrat and the guy offers him a bite.
The look on Mike's face says it all. Plus the comment of his, "it tastes just like squirrel" won't exactly get me interested anytime soon.
I knew that folks still ate muskrat. I just didn't know that there were restaurants here in Michigan that served it up.
Interesting. But you won't catch me eating anything with "rat" in its name.
Watch the video here at www.freep.com.