Image via Complex Original
May is National Barbecue Month, and while most of us celebrate by smoking beef, pork, or even tofu, there are plenty of places around the country where chefs expand their offerings far beyond what's available in the local butcher's meat case. If you'd like to have barbecued reptile, marsupial, or rodent, look no further than this list of ten of the strangest things you can barbecue.
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10. Guinea Pig (Cuy)
Served At: Urubamba
Where: New York
Website: yelp.com/biz/urubamba-jackson-heights
A staple in South American countries like Ecuador and Peru, guinea pig is usually grilled or roasted whole over coals. Adventurous eaters can find it in Peruvian restaurants like Urubamba in Queens.
9. Whole Smoked Alligator
Served At: The Frontier
Where: Chicago
Website: thefrontierchicago.com
You have to call ahead to order this item, but if you do, the Frontier will serve your private party a whole smoked gator, head to tail. If you can't swing that much planning, gator ribs are on the regular menu.
8. Hickory Smoked Rattlesnake
Served At: Spoto's
Where: Dunedin, FL
Website: spotossteakjoint2.com
Farm-raised diamondback rattlesnakes are an appetizer at this Florida steakhouse. But that's not the only snake they serve. Florida's got a problem with the invasive Burmese Python, so Spoto's puts that on the menu as well.
7. Barbecued Chicken Feet
Served At: Happy Harbor Restaurant
Where: Rowland Heights, CA
Website: facebook.com/HappyHarborRestaurant
It's not just the body of the chicken that's delicious on the grill. Barbecued chicken feet are a popular dim sum dish.
6. Applewood Smoked Nutria
Served At: K-Paul's
Where: New Orleans
Website: chefpaul.com/kpaul
In an attempt to reduce the nutria (aka river rat) population, the state of Louisiana tried to convince chefs to use it as a game meat. For a short time, celebrity chef Paul Prudhomme obliged them.
5. Artisanal McRib Sandwich
Served At: Baby Got Back Ribs
Where: New York
Website: babygotbackribs.com
Leave it to a Smorgasburg-based food truck to create an artisanal version of McDonald's pressed-meat McRib sandwich. Here's hoping that next they'll create an artisanal Slim Jim.
4. Barbecued Cornish Hens
Served At: Cozy Corner
Where: Memphis, TN
Website: cozycornerbbq.com
Barbecued Cornish hens are the signature item on the menu at this legendary Memphis barbecue restaurant. The little birds are smoked, served whole and completely covered in sauce.
3. Barbecued Bologna
Served At: Elmer's
Where: Tulsa
Website: elmersbbqtulsaok.com
"If you don't do it right, it puffs up from the heat and has a tendency to explode," said Elmer's owner Keith Jimerson. As if that would be a bad thing.
2. Yak
Served At: The Buckhorn Exchange
Where: Denver
Website: buckhorn.com
A yak is basically a hairier, weirder buffalo, and plenty of places serve that. At the Buckhorn you can get a delicious yak steak, sometimes with a side of ostrich. For a trifecta of strange, start with the Rocky Mountain Oysters (ie: bull testicles).
1. Grilled Kangaroo
Served At: Union Sushi and Barbecue Bar
Where: Chicago
Website: eatatunion.com
Union Sushi and Barbecue uses a Japanese barbecue grill, the robata, to prepare beef, pork, alligator, and kangaroo. This dish comes with soy and pineapple, natural flavor accompaniments for kangaroo.