Panzerschwein

Sweet Tatorman's picture

You gotta love those German words. Germans and their language are especially adept at coining new words from existing ones. Panzerschwein is what the German immigrants in Texas call armadillos. Literally "armored pig". I had mentioned in a thread earlier in the year that I have a mental list of animals to butcher and eat at least once. I had actually struck armadillos from the list a few years ago after quizzing an acquaintance who eats them about the process as well as precautions regarding Hansen's disease (a.k.a., leprosy) for which they can be a vector. His alcohol fueled explanation, while hilarious, seemed way too complicated.

I was forced to reconsider when fate recently delivered one to me and I knew I would regret it if I passed it up. I figured it could not possibly be as hard as snapping turtle which I did earlier in the year. About all I could glean from Youtube was that there does not seem to be a consensus on the best approach. My acquaintance leaves the carcass in the shell since he cooks them upside down on an outdoor grill and this serves to retain the fat which cooks out of the carcass. I decided to remove the carcass from the shell so I was pretty much winging it though a few of his pointers did prove to be useful. While not a walk in the park by any means, it was *much* easier than turtle. By most accounts the meat is quite good, often compared to quality pork. I will know for myself soon.

The fellow pictured below had an unfortunate accident. I have to admit that I find them rather cute in a homely sort of way. Live weight was 11 1/2 lbs (sticklers for semantics would say "recently deceased weight"). The carcass weight was 5 lbs which includes ribs and a few other bones. I did not recover probably 1 lb of meat from the legs and tail. There is a lot of fat on the carcass. Reportedly armadillo is one of the highest calorie/lb meats around.

add photo: 

Details! Details!

Sweet Tatorman's picture

Teresa, I thought you might ask so snapped a picture as it went into the oven. I chose to oven roast it in a baking dish covered with foil. As you can see in photo below it fit nicely into my largest baking dish. Roasted at oven temp of 375F. At 90 minutes it had reached 160F which several sources suggest as minimum for hygienic reasons. Not knowing the original source of that info, out of an abundance of caution I went somewhere over 2 hrs and 180F since it did not look like it was at any risk of drying due to it's fat content. I did not season in any way pre-roasting so I could taste unadulterated and planned to season later. Once roasted the meat separated easily from the bones present. First meal I seasoned with store bought BBQ sauce and served over rice. Second meal I reheated the deboned meat in a hot frypan and seasoned with a mix of store bought BBQ sauce and homemade salsa, again served over rice. Comparisons to pork are apt though "high quality pork" may be a bit of a stretch. As cooked the mouthfeel was very much like slow cooked pork and very tender. Flavor is pork-like with a bit of gamey note. Due to it's pork-like qualities I suspect it would do well with rosemary but I don't have any on hand at the moment. BTW, it turns out that the ribs are tiny vestigial things which makes sense as the external shell would serve the function of protecting the internal organs as ribs do for other mammals.
BTW, no mention of these in the 1997 "Joy" and a brief, clueless IMO, mention in the 1975 "Joy".

add photo: 
ClareBroommaker's picture

1995 Joy of Cooking still has it and recommends soaking overnight in cold water before cooking. I don't know what that would do favorably. It also says cut off the fat then brush with butter or vegetable oil (as if its own fat is nasty?)

When I was a teen, armadillo territory was said to be inching toward our west Tennessee home. Now I've heard for quite some time that they are in southern Missouri. Perhaps they are on their way here to mid-eastern Missouri now. Doubt I'll ever see, much less prepare one, but I can mention to those younger or residing more southward that I read on the internet that armadillos yield a nice size roast and taste like pork....Hmm, armadillo tacos...Armadillos fried rice...Cabbage and armadillo....

Sweet Tatorman's picture

Coming to your neighborhood soon. They have been expanding rapidly Northwards in our lifetime. They only entered the US in Texas in the second half of the 19th century. They have recently been reported as for North as Omaha, Nebraska.
Your 1995 Joy sounds like the 1975 Joy. Having now 1st hand experience, I don't see how you would easily remove the fat and further cannot perceive an issue associated with the fat.

ClareBroommaker's picture

You are right. They are nearby. (I looked it up.) My husband just told me that he and my son had seen them years ago on their travels along the Mississippi. That surprises me because the Department of Conservation map doesn't seem to indicate armadillos much along the counties adjacent to the river.

Our state allows them to be taken at any time of year. Actually, I hope we will not have to deal with them.

Here's a quick read on armadillos. https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/nine-banded-armadillo

Sweet Tatorman's picture

I would wager that is where you will see your first ones if this is an animal you have not seen before. They don't play well with autos. They tend to jump straight up when startled which is a poor defensive strategy in dealing with oncoming vehicles.

Rosemary is one of the easiest plants to propagate, and there need not be a single garden in a temperate climate without a handy rosemary bush. Just pull of a side shoot of one you might find in a public park or at a friend's place, stick it in a glass of water then plant it when it grows roots. Then you will never be without rosemary when a yen for roast armadillo strikes..

kma's picture

This post made my day. I have been working up the courage to 'harvest' some of the squirrels in our neighborhood but really don't have the skills for it yet. Glad to know there are people out here who can make the best of found meat. Hoping I can learn more about it.

Sweet Tatorman's picture

Learn by doing. Go for it!

kma's picture

Thanks for the encouragement! To be honest, my hesitation is in not being able to slaughter humanely. We have captured a number in a have-a-heart trap since they were eating our chicken feed. Then we drove them far away! I'm sure the internet has plenty of instructions. Getting good at trapping was a lesson in itself and we did accomplish that so the final step remains....