Frogs

[Carolyn Tillie]

Wandering around Chinatown, it was easy to get enthralled with the variety of live animals that are available for purchase. I've never been squeamish about butchering my eats, but I have had little cause to have to kill them myself (save an occasional lobster, crawdad, or oyster).

How, then, does one go about murdering a frog? I would think that like a turtle or crustacean, the humane thing is to stab it in the neck, but googling didn't come up with anything definitive.

Suggestions?

[Andrew Fenton]

What's the cliche? Put the frog in cold water, then slowly turn up the heat...

Sorry. I got nothin'...

[ludja]

What's red and green and goes 100 miles an hour....

ba da dum....

It will be interesting to hear a real answer...

[Carolyn Tillie]

<LOL>

You kidders!!!! <grin>

[srhcb]

Frogs are cold blooded. If you put them into ice water they'll slip peacefully into a deep slumber, at which point you can dispatch them painlessly.

SB (kind of wonders who's really cold blooded?)

[Kerry Beal]

I recall that in biology labs we 'pithed' them which involves inserting a probe into the base of the skull and scrambling the brain, then turning it and driving it down the spinal column. I know that worked for dissecting, however I'm not quite sure that would apply to culinary purposes.

[IowaDee]

It's not easy being green.

[sparrowgrass]

When my son used to go frogging in the Indiana summertime, he would bring them home with their heads cut off. Be warned, however, if you do this in the kitchen, they WILL hop around.

I think chilling them in ice water and then cutting their heads off sounds like a good idea for indoor work.

[Arey]

Amphibians are already under enough pressure from pollution and habitat destruction without being subjected to being eaten by the species which has already caused many of them to becomean endangered species or . what's worse, an extinct species.

Besides that, they actually do taste like chicken, so lay off the frogs and eat chicken instead.

[Andrew Fenton]

Amphibians are already under enough pressure from pollution and habitat destruction without being subjected to being eaten by the species which has already caused many of them  to becomean endangered species or . what's worse, an extinct species. 

Are the frogs you find in Asian markets caught wild, or farmed? If the latter, then I don't think endangerment is a problem. But I just don't know.

Edited August 11, 2006 by Andrew Fenton (log)

[Carolyn Tillie]

Amphibians are already under enough pressure from pollution and habitat destruction without being subjected to being eaten by the species which has already caused many of them  to becomean endangered species or . what's worse, an extinct species. 

Are the frogs you find in Asian markets caught wild, or farmed? If the latter, then I don't think endangerment is a problem. But I just don't know.

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I'm honestly not sure -- I've just seen TONS of them in Chinatown so I'm assuming they are farmed since San Francisco is not a habitat known for any great marshy areas...

[wattacetti]

Wandering around Chinatown, it was easy to get enthralled with the variety of live animals that are available for purchase. I've never been squeamish about butchering my eats, but I have had little cause to have to kill them myself (save an occasional lobster, crawdad, or oyster).

How, then, does one go about murdering a frog? I would think that like a turtle or crustacean, the humane thing is to stab it in the neck, but googling didn't come up with anything definitive.

Suggestions?

←

We did the same in both high school and grad school when it came to prepping the frogs for either dissection or oocyte removal: ice bath and then pith with a large needle. If we really wanted to make sure, we'd decerebrate as well after pithing. We didn't eat them though: no one was sure if Xenopus laevi was edible.

Anyway, since you know who the vendors are in Chinatown, couldn't you just ask how they would do this? I suspect that the eateries probably won't wait around for the ice bath but the vendors may have some hints.

So what/how are you planning to prepare with frogs? Ribs?

[Melianne]

Why bother killing something that's really not worth the effort? Chances are you'll have to create the death of about 24 creatures to sate your hunger, only to conclude, "Feh. We shoulda just gone to Hooters."

Nobody swoons over frog.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Wattacetti - Unfortunately for me, I don't speak any of the Chinese dialects and these folks speak surprisingly little Chinese... I tried, believe me. Now they do sell the pre-butchered frog's legs and that is what I'll end buying, but the idea was to be able to do it all ourselves.

Melianne - "Not worth the effort" is subjective. My late Father was definitely one who swooned over frog legs, appreciating anytime I could bring him fresh ingredients for his private consumption. And Hooters would never be an option, thank-you-very-much.

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

At least in Contra Contra County, they're supposed to kill them for you when you buy them. Legally they're not allowed to let you take them home alive, according to the sign at the local Asian market that sells the critters.

Ok, after further research, it's a State Fish and Game Commission thing, not just a county thing.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ananda26/196266690/

Edited August 11, 2006 by MomOfLittleFoodies (log)

[Busboy]

One of my earliest memories is watching the next door neighbors do a "frog fry" or whatever when I was living in Norman, Oklahoma. These were pretty seriously country folks, I guess, and they croaked the little croakers with knives, one person holding them by the legs while the other hacked away. A gruesome and sanguinary scene, not to mention the other substances a frog exudes while being dispatched.

Everyone seemed to be having an icky good time.

[flacoman]

Methinks you could hold 'em by the legs , upside-down and whop their necks on the edge of the counter. Works good on fishes

[Hest88]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure they bash their heads for you before you take 'em home, so killing them shouldn't be an issue.

[deltadoc]

You can't drop a live frog into hot water cause he'll jump out, but if you put him in cold water and then turn the heat up, he'll stay right there in the water until he's cooked and dead!

doc

[GordonCooks]

Try country music - anything from Shania Twain or Garth Brooks should do the job.

[budrichard]

So far, not a single Poster knew anything about killing frogs. Murder is for people and if you are hung up on the correct term for dispatching a frog, then you probably shouldn't consider it.

Now to answer your question. You have two options.

1. Have the seller kill, skin and remove the legs which is all thats eaten.

2. Pithing is for rendering the frog senseless so that it doesn't move under dissection http://www.biopac.com/bslprolessons/a01/a01.htm .

Hold the frog in your left hand(if right handed), cut into the brain. then using a very sharp knife cut off the legs and then skin, you may need a tweezers to assist. -Dick

[Andrew Fenton]

2. Pithing is for rendering the frog senseless so that it doesn't move under dissection http://www.biopac.com/bslprolessons/a01/a01.htm

Yeah, but if you do it wrong you'll just pith it off...

[Carolyn Tillie]

Try country music - anything from Shania Twain or Garth Brooks should do the job.

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Very funny - but more a chance it would kill ME before the frog!

[srhcb]

Try country music - anything from Shania Twain or Garth Brooks should do the job.

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Very funny - but more a chance it would kill ME before the frog!

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Ummmm .... frogs live in the country you know?

Anyway, here's an exhaustive list of frog songs.

BTW: Where is the recipe you plan to use the frogs in?

SB (or, are you brewing a potion?)

[Luckylies]

Wandering around Chinatown, it was easy to get enthralled with the variety of live animals that are available for purchase. I've never been squeamish about butchering my eats, but I have had little cause to have to kill them myself (save an occasional lobster, crawdad, or oyster).

How, then, does one go about murdering a frog? I would think that like a turtle or crustacean, the humane thing is to stab it in the neck, but googling didn't come up with anything definitive.

Suggestions?

←

Here's how to not kill a frog. After my parents divorced my sister and I got a lot of leeway in the teenage behavior department. One day while walking around in Chinatown my sister and I saw a huge plastic garbage can filled with cute, green, bobbing frogs. As self- styled animal preservationists, we knew something was to be done--and soon. After purchasing two slippery green friends we were at a loss at what to do with them. Neither of us had room in our dorms for them and the tank setup at petco with filters and gravel and the works was looking very expensive... perhaps more expensive than befits two chinatown frogs. A phone call to Dad was in order it sounded something like this:

"hi dad, you know that little office you have yet to decorate in your apartment? We'd like to make it into an Asian themed room

"an Asian themed room?"

"yep"

"how much is this Asian themed room going to cost me?" He was starting to get the jist.

"five hundred dollars"

"fine, but this project must be started and finished, not half-assed."

Trisket and Pumpernickle lived happily in their atrium for 5 years eating crickets and worms and just generally chilling out on their lilly pads.

The rest of the decorating money went to lunch at Jean-Georges!

as the toils of the conservationist....