I started off this week wanting to push the boat out a little on the meat front and possibly ruffle a few feathers amongst some readers. I wanted to address what is considered ok to eat and what isn’t.

Can I eat Panda and get slain for it? Or will people realise that it isn’t really doing much to procreate and continue the survival of its species. Therefore is it just a glorified money grabber from generous animal lovers? Just a thought.

Anyway, what I ended up with wasn’t exactly that. I cooked some Kangaroo fillets. I think ‘Roo’ may be thought of as taboo to some people, but certainly not for me, and many people I know.

I’ll get back into this shortly, but before I do let’s get back into our basic resistance movements. So far I’ve covered the squat and the lunge. This week I’ll look at the push, and by that I mean an upper body push.

Generally this can be in two plains: horizontal (in front of the body) or vertical (above the head). To keep it simple and in line with the basic stuff so far, and for those of us that are slightly more ‘movement challenged’ (unco), or ‘strength deficient’ (weak), I’m going to cover the push up.

The attached photos have the details and key points. If you have any questions outside of my stellar descriptions, please ask in the comment box below. If not, I’ll take it that you all are doing perfect push ups and soon it won’t be you pushing yourself off the ground, but you pushing the ground down. Super strong and tough, like Batman.

Whilst the push up is predominantly known as a chest exercise, it is in fact, when done properly, a full body exercise linking your upper body- chest, upper back, shoulders and arms-, mid and lower torso- and lower body. Once again helping you become strong, lean and well shaped.

Now back to the Roo. Does anyone think this animal is not ok to eat? As a Kiwi I don’t have any emotional attachment issues with eating Skippy. I know this is an animal that is plentiful , is a fantastic source of protein, as well as being high in many important vitamins and minerals, for example iron and zinc. It’s usually very lean and when cooked well is tender, juicy and delicious.

Back to the Kiwi/Aussie thing; being the struggling little brother I find it’s always nice to get one (anything) back on the bullying big bro, even if it is in the form of eating one of the animals on their national coat of arms, (This will most definitely become two once I take down some Emu at a later date).

The same is more difficult for an Aussie though, we have a blond white chick and a Maori tribesman on ours. You can attempt a takedown in a different form than eating perhaps… Eating a Kiwi would come close I suppose, but because they are endangered and generally sneaky little buggars who only come out at night, eats roots, shoots and leaves (for the perceptive there is a nice little joke about ‘Kiwis’ in there with the simple addition of one comma…), they’re hard guys to find. Plus we seem to celebrate our national animals. I would be keen to try some of New Zealand’s long extinct Giant Moa. That would be a feed for the whole family!

This week’s Roo resulted in my early morning visit to the guys at The Butcher And The Chef in Potts Point, while they were setting up for the day to come. In terms of meats that would rock the boat, this was as far as it went. So I bought two fresh fillets, and some ingredients for a quinoa salad.

I’ve had plenty of Roo meat over the last 2+ years that I’ve been in ‘Straya’ and have discovered that it can have a bit of a strong smell when it’s cooking. Maybe I’ve been doing it wrong, as this didn’t. I spoke to Dave and he suggested pan searing the meat then putting into a hot oven for 10 or so minutes.

After I had let the meat air, I salted with pink Himalayan rock salt and a small amount of cracked pepper and let it come to room temperature, I followed those directions and put in a hot pan for 30 seconds each side followed by a hot oven at 180° for 9 minutes.

While this was happening I prepared some red organic quinoa. Once cooked and rested I added 6 chopped small asparagus springs to slowly heat. Then once ready I added some:

• extra virgin olive oil
• fresh lemon juice
• a small amount of organic butter
• 3 de-seeded kumatoes (green/purple looking tomatoes)
• 1 de-seeded Lebanese cucumber
• Half a red capsicum
• Rock salt
•  Cracked pepper

I also made a small mushroom sauce with:

• 3 button mushrooms finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon of organic butter
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon of whole cream
• 1 tablespoon of red wine

As you’ll see in the photos, I attempted to get gourmet on the serving and made a bed of quinoa salad, topped it with the rested and sliced kangaroo fillet and then added some of the delicious sauce to the meat.

I was pretty excited with what I’d created. It was definitely tasty and very well cooked (if I do say so myself, although this was backed up heavily by my fellow diner. Honest) It was rare in the middle, tender and full of kangaroo flavour, which is kind of gamey and rich but not really up to par with a beautiful fillet of beef. Still, I really enjoyed the meal, and I think the sauce was a perfect accompaniment. Apparently the quinoa needs to be boiled in stock. Lesson learned there. I liked the salad but can see how stock would improve it.

Is it ok to eat kangaroo? Umm… yes, of course it is. Why wouldn’t it be? This meat is great for you and adds a nice red meat variation to beef and lamb in the diet. Not easy for those out of Australia to get, unless you want to get incredibly ballsy, and illegal, and attempt to make more than just a visit to your local zoo (note: I do not currently recommend or condone taking kangaroos from any zoo).

Who thinks not? I will definitely get more into the concept of what is deemed ok to eat in our society and what isn’t. I have some strong opinions about this and if I didn’t this Twenty12 task would be a mighty difficult and boring one (eg: this week I ate blue cod, next week snapper, then whiting…), apart from my talented writing and extensive knowledge on most subjects of course…

I visited New Zealand briefly this week (in fact I’m currently posting this from Auckland airport while waiting for a new flight to Sydney after mine was cancelled early this morning. Always fun, but has enabled me to waste time reading pointless sports articles from people I generally disagree with…) but I didn’t have much opportunity to take down something limited to Aoteoroa. I have had an interesting and exciting conversation with Kristy, the owner at The Butcher and the Chef this week, so there may be some fun things in store in the coming weeks!

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Mike