If someone offered you camel bourguignon or a camel-burger on a gold-leaf bun, would you think they were kidding? We offered you an affordable recipe for camel burgers in this post. Now The Daily Star reports that in the Abu Dhabi Emirates Palace Hotel, the humble camel has been elevated into the new ulra-gourmet meat. If you’re willing to shell out big bucks, you too can satisfy your craving for camel prestige. Ostentation is the name of the game, with every chef scrambling to outshine the next in new and startling culinary camel configurations.
Camel dairies supply the nutritious milk for a booming new market, as we’ve reported here, for speciality chocolate manufacturers. Camel-licious milk and lattes are already appreciated in Japan and Europe. With the new fad for gourmet camel dishes, new farms offer tender young camel meat. As fast as chefs can think up ways to get camel into their menus, it’s happening. But it’s not all foodie bling. Camel milk is said to help suppress diabetes.
Craving some camel-based tournedos Rossini? In Qatar, you can pop into the Idam restaurant in the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha and order some. The dish of tender camel meal served with foie gras and black truffle sauce costs $90. According to Idam’s executive chef Roman Meder, lots of people are happy to order it.
“It’s the most-selling recipe on our menu,” he says.
From Beduin tents where folks help themselves from the common plate with their hands – to being smothered in truffles and gold leaf bread in upscale restaurants. Quite a transformation for the humble camel.
More on camel milk and meat from Green Prophet:
Photo of camel steak with chocolate sauce via Shutterstock.
Author: Miriam Kresh
Miriam Kresh is an American ex-pat living in Israel. Her love of Middle Eastern food evolved from close friendships with enthusiastic Moroccan, Tunisian and Turkish home cooks. She owns too many cookbooks and is always planning the next meal. Miriam can be reached at miriam (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
Camel meat is something that most visitors into Oman want, but cant usually get. There is a place in Muscat that does Camel Meat Burgers