Eating reindeer meat | Hacker News Reader

Eating reindeer meat

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28 pointsrdlecler133 comments

Actually had reindeer roast with mashed root vegetables and lingonberry for Christmas Day dinner today - highly recommended :)

That sounds delicious. Ikea really turned me on to lingonberry

In Alaska (where I live), reindeer meat is extremely common. You can go to most diners and get reindeer sausage. It really is excellent, and good for you.

I would love to see reindeer spread. Not only would it be great for our small villages, but I think it's a healthier alternative. Win-win

Everyone wins, except reindeer themselves, I suppose.

Considering they're raised for meat it won't affect the survival of the species if we eat them.

There is the moral angle, though. Given that there are today alternatives to slaughtering animals, should we continue to slaughter them just because our society and laws permit such slaughter and murder? Is it moral to get away with saying "Hey, I don't slaughter them, I only eat what the supermarket sells"? This is the nature of questions us ex-meat-eaters and non-meat-eaters have.

I don't disagree with this, in fact I've thought about it quite a bit myself in the past. I currently do eat meat, but I try to limit to only ethically treated sources.

Some interesting questions I was asked at one point (not a troll): is it moral to eat plants? Why is slaughtering them any more moral than slaughtering animals? If you say that plants don't feel pain, how do you know (Science is constantly advancing and completely turning over something we used to think we know)? Another (inflammatory) question I was asked, if killing animals is wrong because they are living creatures capable of feeling pain, doesn't that make killing unborn fetuses wrong? We know they feel pain.

Not necessarily expecting an answer, but those are questions I've been pondering for some time. Figured I'd share in case there are any philosophy nerds out there like me.

That's a vegan vs. non-vegan argument which really has little to nothing to do with whether we ranch reindeer, bison or beef.

and good for you ... healthier alternative

How exactly? I mean, just because it's meat in general (how good that is, is debatable and heavily depends on the amounts ingested), as opposed to other types of meat, as opposed to vegetables or ... ?

I guess they mean because it's a very lean meat, tho of course not everyone would agree that fat is unhealthy

Ate it on a recent trip to Finland. Absolutely delicious — probably closer to bison than deer from a culinary perspective.

Yes, definitely reminiscent of bison. Although if I was told it was beef I might believe it. Although reindeer sausage could easily pass for pig sausage, other than it is leaner and has a much better texture IMHO. It's often spiced differently and I like it much better. Man this is making me hungry.

It doesn't have the pig taste and it's less fatter. Maybe it could pass as pig mixed with >60% beef or horse.

Here in Eastern Canada, we call them caribou and they are regularly hunted as food. Though, moose is by far the most popular game meat. Almost everyone gets a moose hunting license in the (mostly) rural areas.

And here in western Canada, there are plenty of ranches which raise caribou, and it's very popular in higher end restaurants.

In my opinion caribou is far tastier than moose, however I could definitely see moose being a more thrilling hunt.

Atleast in Finland, reindeer meat doesn’t taste the same as it used to due to change of food they are fed now.

Does it taste better or worse now? Or just different?

I haven’t eaten meat for a long time so I can’t say much about better or worse but my understanding and what buddies are saying is that it’s not as good as it used to be. Not bad but it’s not the same taste anymore.

That's interesting to me, as somebody who's moved to Finland recently. Presumably it tastes "worse" ?

(I had some today, I thought it was delicious.)

As in other reply, afaik it doesn’t taste the same as it used to. Some people might say it’s worse but I think it’s more about what people where used to.

I imagine this is similar to the taste difference between corn-fed and (strictly) grass-fed cattle.

I’d assume thats that’s the case as fodder (afaik) plays a big role in their diet nowadays.

I've had reindeer in Iceland. A bit gamey, but not bad.

That's interesting. It's never felt gamey to me, but maybe because it's domesticated and farmed.

Here in Alaska there is a lot of farmed reindeer as well. My kids love going to see the reindeer farm in Palmer every year.

Exactly my experience in Alaska. Just a bit gamey, but I would definitely try it again.

Gameyness can partially be controlled using anti-oxidants during cooking (rose-mary, mustard, etc) - so it’s a bit up to the chef :)

I would love to have access to deer meats in the us.

Depending on what state, you may have several options for this.

Options beyond hunting for it yourself? I know in Alaska it's pretty illegal to sell game such as moose. Are there states where you can legally sell/buy game?

Yes, there are but they tend to be ranched. For an example in Texas http://www.brokenarrowranch.com/Shop/

This seems to have a recent list of online places: https://www.thespruce.com/best-places-to-buy-wild-game-meats...

There are lots of constraints on commercial sale of game meats, I don’t think you are going to find hunters selling small quantities, if I recall correctly this is illegal to avoid impact on wild populations.

I've never seen it for sale in RI where I live. I only have access to it via hunting.

> I would love to have access to deer meats in the us.

I thought a lot of people in the US were into hunting deer? Don't they sell the venison on? We have a lot of deer in the UK and venison is easy to find and common in restaurants.

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