Fans of Kermit, be forewarned. This is one of those NC16 blogs and you may choose not to read it. Now, I am not a frogs legs afficianado, so I only do this because the stall is quite famous and it is the kind of story that would make some go EEEEwwww!
Quite interesting to note that our frog supplies come from Lim Chu Kang. Yep, if ever there is a war and we are forced to rely on our own food sources, everyone would be chewing on a frog’s leg. (Finger or should I say, toe licking good!) Mind you because of the short supply, one whole family may be forced to share one frog, then you would have to eat the whole frog, eyes, skin, innards and all.
You know why we don’t eat frogs? No, its not because it looks green and slimy. It’s because a frog like the one in the picture takes 3 years to grow and produces only four legs containing only a small amount of meat. Compare this to a Chicken which takes just 3 months to grow and can provide 1 kg of meat and you know why the whole world is eating chicken.
This is how you prepare a claypot frog. First take a living, breathing frog. Whack it over the head and then……. (Censored). Put the meat in a claypot. Add oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, chinese rice wine, sesame oil and a handful of sliced ginger and chives, and cook over a hot stove.
Make sure you simmer it long enough to ensure that the meat is tender. Frog meat that is undercooked is tough and stringy and gets stuck in between your teeth. That’s what happened to me and I had to get them to simmer it a bit longer.
The taste? Most people say it tastes like chicken. Hey if it tastes like chicken, why eat frog legs? Its more expensive, ($6.50 for a pot with 1 frog) and you don’t get much meat with it. I found that the flesh has a delicate sweetness about it that you don’t find with chicken and the meat is more tender (after simmering a bit longer) and of a different texture. Ok if you compare with chicken, its like eating the flesh around the two bones of the mid joint (Flexor Carpi Ulnaris and Brachioradialis muscles between the Radius and Ulnar bones, for those who really want to be pedantic).
The sauce is very tasty and goes well with the porridge. The porridge itself does not have frog meat in it. It is cooked with pork bones, so its like Chok (Pork Porridge) but without any meat in it. Theirs is quite savoury. The set above costs $14 and has 2 frogs. Quite pricey, I felt, for such a small amount of meat.
Conclusion
Nice, but not the type of thing I would “Gian” (crave) to eat. For that kind of price, I could get a claypot full of braised chicken pieces to feed a whole family. But it is quite healthy because it has very little fat, so its good if you are looking for something delicate, tasty, healthy, have a bit of extra cash in your pocket and don’t have to feed a family of five. 3.5/5
Update 12 Oct 2007
Jackson Centre has been closed. If anyone has got updates on where the stalls have moved to please write in and let us know!
