Say what? Yes, I said emu burger! Today, Dennis and I picked up some ground emu meat (think tall bird, long neck) from A & W Emu Ranch in Santee at the Hillcrest Farmer's Market, and I made it into a tasty burger tonight. I decided to doctor it up with some bread, parsley, garlic (stalk not bulb), salt & pepper and melt some cheese on top, though I think it would have been pretty good just plain too. It is a very dark, red meat and extremely lean (97%) but it was super tender. We had been told to cook it "hot and fast" to avoid the meat drying up and getting tough due to this lack of fat, but I cooked it all the way through and had no problem with this. I think it would be delicious as emu loaf or spaghetti and emu balls as well, so we'll have to decide how to serve it...

We learned that the birds are shipped up to a slaughter and packing house in San Rafael (northern California) because there isn't a closer facility that is set up to, or willing to, process the bird meat. Apparently, whenever a slaughterhouse changes from processing one kind of meat to another, the entire facility must be cleaned and sanitized in order to avoid cross-contamination between species. So there aren't many places to send emu meat since it's a specialty. We decided we would be OK with this since the farm itself is very local, the meat is very good, and it would be a unique addition to our menu.

You can reach the ranch at 10080 Pebble Beach Drive, Santee, CA 92071, tel: 619-449-9328