frog legs

[Hammerhead]

is frog legs somethin atrapper would have ate when they could get there hands on them

 

[dyemaker]

Maybe French fur trappers :wink: I think it's a French dish. I don't know and I really don't know why I feel compelled to try and help answer such questions. Usually I'm wrong :haha: Often I come across my own postings whilst searching and feel rather silly. It's a learning experience.

 

[Hammerhead]

my personna is a french fur trader so i figured since frog legs was a french dish it would be used

 

[Ft. Jefferson]

If'n your out on a scout or long hunt, yer gonna eat whatever ya find. frogs, snakes, whatever. And ya don't even need to waste the powder and lead.

 

[rabjr]

If you look up the history of eating frogs legs, it goes way back with a few countrys eating them like China and a few others. It wasn't until around the 14th or 15th century that they started eating them in France. They have the South West United States listed also. We ate them up here when I was a kid.

I think it would have been one of those things for trappers to either see something that was eatable or something that just wasn't. :idunno:

 

[Hammerhead]

well i sure do like frog legs if i run across a good size frog ill catch it and cook it but i dont see many bullfrogs round here and i live near a wetlands

 

[crockett]

Well that brings up an interesting point- same thing with me. All the frogs these days seem really small- years ago you come gig them at night with a 3 prong spear- a sort of mini-trident. I read about shooting them in the head- if you did it right they stayed on the lilly pad but that seems like a really hard trick to pull off.

 

[gordy]

I"ve always loved frog legs . Also American eel . When we were kids we used to hit all the ponds and backwaters . We were careful not to remove too many from a given spot so they woud replenish by the next season. We"d take home about 50 pair from our route of ponds lakes and river backwaters . Used to sell some , but mostly ate them our self . You have to be careful not to use strong herbs and condiments because the flavor of the meat is so delicate . The eels are easy to skin and clean and skin and nearly as good as the frog legs . Taste like a very mild catfish. and NO frog legs don"t taste like chicken .Where I live now the closest thing in favor to them is the rattlers. They can be prepared nearly the same , and NO they don"t taste like chicken either .
I"m French and part Cree so that may have a bearing on what foods I like (most all) . :hmm: :thumbsup:

 

[Bill Hall]

Good question. I've often wondered if trappers and mountain men and such took the time and effort to harvest the little animals we consider delicacies. We often read about how they went out on hunting parties, took a few deer or elk, and went back to trapping. I figure it was too time consuming to go after doves, quail, squirrels, frogs, rabbits and the like when you're in a trapping party set on making money. Though I'm sure from time to time, if a trapper was in the mood for something different, he would sharpen a stick to take a frog, especially if he ate them before (YUM). And when larger animals for food were scarce, they ate whatever they could gather. If you get a chance to read the journals of Lewis and Clark, it tells of many times when they lived off of stew made from lots of little critters and roots. I just doubt if it was the norm to take the time to gather up a bunch of little frogs for dinner. Bill

 

[rabjr]

I don't know... We took them with a pellet gun here when I was growing and a pair of waders and a .22 was good for an afternoon of fun on the beaver pond up in Vermont. But it's really not hard to gig for them. Peaple carried hooks and fishing line then, wouldn't take long for a guy to cut a long enough stick, tie some line and a hook on it using it as is or with a piece of colored cloth dangling from the hook. A guy could in no time catch enough frogs to snack on doing this.

 

[Bill Hall]

My Grandma told me about the flashy cloth on a fish hook trick, but we never tried it. We would go out in waders at night with gigs and flashlights and look for eyes. Much of the time was spent pulling each other out of the guck at the sides of the ditches. Like walking in three feet of fresh you-know-what. :rotf:

I kinda equate a trapping expedition to what my father-in-law told me about cowboying in Idaho when he was a young man. They would spend their summers tending cattle up in the mountains, and the first thing they would do is poach a deer or elk for camp meat. When that one got "nasty", they would get a fresh one. They worked hard all day, and the three of them ate alot of meat. Not much different than how trappers worked a hundred years prior. I'm sure trappers had the occasional batch of froglegs for supper, but I think for the most part, it was big pieces of red meat. Easy to prepare and cook. Just speculating here. Bill

 

[rabjr]

I agree, catchin frogs for a meal I'm sure wasn't done everyday of course but I gotta think in a situation where a Trapper found himself in a spot with some big crockers sitting about, he'd see a possible meal and dine on them. :hmm:

 

[August West]

Froggin is one of my favorite passtimes and dang good eating to boot, I have no idea about mountain man eating them though.

I have shot them with a 22, gigged them and caught them with a hook and line. A cane pole 6 to 8 feet long with a 2 to 3 foot piece of 20 pound test line, good size sharp hook and a piece of red flannel or the biggest gaudiest fly you can find might be the best. I like this because even when they are back in the weeds where it is hard to get a gig to them you can snake the pole back to them and they will literally jump all over the hook. Good fun, good eats and spring is just around the corner. :grin: Chris

 

[David W.]

is frog legs somethin atrapper would have ate when they could get there hands on them

If I were a trapper back in them days, I would! Even iffin there was plenty other stuff available.

 

[LaBonte]

While the mountain men were known to eat just about anything when in dire straits, the frogs out here, and they are not everywhere due to the very dry conditions over most of the area, are awfully small (body size maybe 2" at most with small legs to match. Not much meat on them unlike eastern frogs......

 

[gordy]

We had some pretty fair size frogs in the N.E. You could more times than not , listen for a few minutes after reaching the area to hunt and tell by their call how big they were When you heard a "boomer" thats the direction to head first . On the real big ones you could use the back strap and the front legs . :thumbsup:

 

[rabjr]

I didn't realize how small they are out west. We grew some real crokers here in the Hatchery I grew up on. I had a pond just 15 yards from my bedroom window and summers were wonderful, falling to sleep listening to frogs at night. I used to catch the really big ones and release them into that pond just to listen to em. Man I miss that...

 

[shmrck1]

I don't know... We took them with a pellet gun here when I was growing and a pair of waders and a .22 was good for an afternoon of fun on the beaver pond up in Vermont. But it's really not hard to gig for them. Peaple carried hooks and fishing line then, wouldn't take long for a guy to cut a long enough stick, tie some line and a hook on it using it as is or with a piece of colored cloth dangling from the hook. A guy could in no time catch enough frogs to snack on doing this.

First one I ever took was with a Sheriden Pellet
gun.Then there was gigging.My best of all, anything on a hook or nothing.Get them on the bank and tease them with just a hook on the end of line.They will get P/O and take the hook.
I liked this way best cause you took them alive,
and could start your on little frog puddle.
One other thing I have not seen mentioned.
There is a piece of meat,about the size of a short pencil that runs down the back on both sides
of the back bone.Small even on a large frog,but
easy to get and the best part of Kermit.IMO

 

[David W.]

I always wondered why people just eat the legs when there is other good meat there.

I don't know how big they get in other areas, but it is hard to believe they can get bigger than in the L'Anguille river bottoms in Arkansas. Just have to watch out for the water moccasins!

 

[Blizzard of '93]

the only recipe for them and only way I've ever cooked has been rolled in beaten egg then dredged in seasoned pancake mix/corn flour mix then fried in fat or hot oil. mighty tasty IMO.