Beef with feathers

Ostrich with Port and Blue Cheese Glaze

Ostrich is no longer a novelty. Growers in this country produce more than 1 million pounds of ostrich meat every year. The meat is available frozen, or it can be ordered at most meat markets and supermarkets. Ostrich is a very red, lean, and mild-tasting meat. Comparing it to beef makes the most flavor sense.

The ostrich has no breast meat – it’s mostly leg and thigh, plus a strip from the back called the tenderloin. The tenderloin and some cuts from the thigh (top loin, fan, oyster, and inside and outside strip) are quite tender. Others are chewier. Ostrich meat that is cut into neat slices or re-formed into steaks called medallions or mignons cooks quite evenly.

At $10 to $20 a pound, depending on the cut, ostrich isn’t cheap. But it’s lean, boned, and quick-cooking, and takes well to bold sauces.