Monday, February 6, 2012

Gigging For Frogs


If you're lost in the jungle or there's a natural disaster like a hurricane you can always eat frog legs as survival food. Years ago I had frog legs and remembered them to be quite tasty. I remember gigging for frogs with an old boyfriend in a pond somewhere. We used a fishing pole with a red strip of cloth on the hook. The frogs are attracted to the red material, perhaps thinking it's a worm. The frog above is about the size of a half dollar piece; he was by our back door. These days I couldn't go gigging for frogs, I really should be a vegetarian, perhaps just eat fish and vegetables. It doesn't hurt to know how to survive though.


The other day at the farmer's market I saw fresh frog legs so I thought I'd try them again. My gentle readers I have spared you the more graphic photos I took of the legs before breading. In this post I realize my blog is certainly a contradictory juxtaposition of ideas and theories; such is my life. The vase below is from the last firing. I left the exterior unglazed and used green on the bottom and interior. I wish I had used black, but I don't have a good black, must work on that.


I parboiled the legs for three minutes, then let them cool. Next I dipped the legs in gluten free cracker crumbs, then in beaten eggs, then in cornmeal. I got some fresh ground cornmeal at the farmer's market. It was ground by a 75 year old gentleman with a portable grist mill engine which sips fuel. I sauteed them in some melted butter and olive oil till they were crunchy on one side, then flipped them over to brown the other side. I served them with stone ground mustard as a dipping sauce. The photo below is the interior of the vase, the green did some interesting things almost like clouds. With the firing schedule I use I can get some great glaze results, but  most often they happen on the interior, I may tweak the schedule a bit to see if I can get them on the outside of pieces where they'd be more visible.


The frog legs were a novelty to eat but didn't seem as tasty as I remembered them from the past. A bisque load is cooling and I intend to load and fire a glaze load right away. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

13 comments:

  1. I tried frogs legs and I thought they tasted like chicken. Seriously! And I pictured all those frogs on crutches so I stopped eating them. Nice vase!

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  2. never have eaten them although folks here eat both frogs and turtle.
    I once read about eating turtle - that was as close as I got.
    One of the dates my father took my mother on was frog gigging.

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  3. Hi Ronna, thanks, they do taste like chicken, these weren't as good as I remember them though. I don't think I'll be getting them again though.

    Hi Dennis, thanks, they were ok, kind of bland really.

    Hi Meredith, thanks, apparently the locals here eat turtle. When I traveled in Mexico back in the 1970s they had canned turtle soup which I had, but I couldn't eat turtle now. If I was starving I guess I could eat them though; I guess I'd have to.

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  4. Like mushrooms, some frogs are poisonous so it's not a bad idea to know your frogs before you eat them. Of course once you get to know them would you want to eat them?

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  5. I can see where black would be very sharp on that vase, but I like it a lot as is.

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  6. I wonder how they humanely kill the frog before removing its legs? Things like that really bother me!

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  7. I will try any food once, but I've never had an opportunity to try frog legs. I bet I could find them a at a specialty market here. If I do, I will try your recipe.

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  8. Haven't tried frog legs, they don't appeal at all. I've had snails and won't bother again. Now your vase I do like - the turquoise and orange go well together. Black might be too stark?

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  9. I have eaten them, in fact I remember seeing them twitch in the pan. That kind of turned me off. I knew they weren't alive but did they have to kick??

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  10. The first time I had frog legs was with my dad when I was little(9 or 10?). His cousins had gone gigging the night before and were frying them up in the back room of their auto shop. They did taste a bit like chicken and they were delicious...good memories.
    I have only had them a couple times since then. There are a couple places around southern IL that serve them, but they are always a bit pricey and they never live up to that first time.

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  11. Hi Lori, thanks, good point about the poison frogs, I don't think I'll have them again, I just remembered they tasted good to me long ago.

    Hi Melissa, thanks, the black would pick up the black dots I think, sometimes I'm not quite sure how to glaze stuff.

    Hi Michele, thanks, yeah fish is better.

    Hi Ms. Sparrow, thanks, oh my I didn't even think of that, ugh.

    Hi Julia, thanks, I remembered them being more flavorful before but maybe that was because they were wild caught and these were probably farm raised.

    Hi Anna, thanks, you know the black might be too much because it would draw the eye down since it would be a large section that was black, I just never know.

    Hi Patti, thanks, I read they can twitch when cooking so that's why I parboiled them first so they wouldn't twitch in the frying pan.

    Hi Rob, thanks, the wild caught ones I think are much better than the farm raised; I remember we gigged for the frogs during the day, but I have heard most folks gig at night, kind of scary though because where there are frogs, there are snakes and could be some poisonous ones like cottonmouth or copperheads.

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I love suggestions, questions, critiques, thanks for your comment