Exotic Foods - Look No Further

Gene Rurka

Exotic Food Expert Gene Rurka - for the Explorers Club - could help out with some recipes for that special night, trust him he has been preparing the Explorers Clubs Annual Dinner for 6 Years;

Rotten/Fermented/Herring

If you have a taste for adventure but ...there is nowhere to go at the moment.

I have had Central American river turtle, green turtle, Iguana and Iguana eggs, ants eggs and ants, frogs, snake, silk worms in Korea, Raw whale meat, Muskox and Mattak which is raw whale skin with a thin layer of blubber cut in small cubes in Greenland, Seal Meat in the Arctics as well as the Swedes fermented herring (If you can call rotten fish exotic)and their Moonshine........Crocodile, Emu and Kangaroo, to name a few (not so rare and exotic - but extraordinary) - so what about a recipe from Gene Rurka.If not - you could fly to try deep-fried scorpions in Singapore, or have fruit Bat Soup in Guam and go for a drink of bat’s blood in Saigon.

Succulent Scorpion on Endive with Herb Cheese

Ingredients
12 scorpions (preferably 2” or larger)2 cups of Cabernet Sauvignon
1 lemon
2 tablespoons of honey
12 endive leaves (3 inches in length)6 oz crème fraiche (can substitute crème cheese)
1/2 cup of fresh chopped basil (can substitute parsley)

Preparation;Marinate scorpions in Cabernet Sauvignon, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Blot excess wine with paper towel. Add lemon zest or spice of your choice or lightly glaze scorpions with honey and lemon.
Transfer scorpions to baking sheet and slightly dry in oven at 250 degrees for 3 to 5 minutes (smaller scorpions will require shorter drying time). Be careful not to bake or over dry. The scorpions should remain supple. Remove from baking tray. Allow to cool.
Wash and dry endive leaves. Mix basil into crème fraiche. Add a dollop of cheese mixture to each endive leaf and gently place a scorpion on the bed of herb cheese.

Or Not so Exotic BBQ Alligator

This is a Killer - Fugu Puffer - Sashimi would be nice.

This is one of the most dangerous dishes you can ever put into your mouth. The Fugu fish is a pleasant looking little fish - a puffer fish, - Lethal -The Fugu fish organs has a deadly venom —tetrodotoxin - a natural defense system that renders its attackers paralyzed - A delicacy and one of the most dangerous dinners you can have, ingest a little bit to much of the Fugu and you will die a slow death from conscious paralysis and asphyxia. There is no anti-venom but if you are an adrenaline junkie, Why not try it?