This weekend in the country the nights were cold.
Saturday evening my wife’s brother-in-law, his friends, and I drank rice whiskey around a fire.
Halfway through the second bottle a young man entered the circle of light. A long small-bore rifle rested on his shoulder and he lifted a large plastic bag. At first I thought he had shot a few snakes, but he emptied the bag onto the wooden platform.
Rats caught in bamboo traps.
Big rats drowned in the rice paddies
Big fat field rats.
Within seconds several logs were added to the fire.
Bok, my brother-in-law lopped off the rats’ feet and tails with a machete. The other men sliced garlics and chillies. I’ve eaten small birds, snake, dog, and insects, but never rat or noo.
Bok recognized my consternation and said, “Noo khao not same noo house. Only eat rice. Clean and aroi.”
Using a sharp knife Bok deftly sliced a small incision behind the ears to yank the fur from the carcass and then decapitated the rat. He repeated this with the other rats as a friend washed the body before gutting the belly. The dogs fought over the guts.
The bigger rats were grilled over the fire and the smaller one was mashed in a pestle with the chillies and garlic. The burning flesh had everyone but me licking their lips. Bok produced another bottle of lao khao. This time red. “Eat rat. drink lao khao si-daeng. have sex a long time.”
My wife was already asleep, so I was in little need of a sexual stimulant, however I was offfered the first piece of rat.
“What the fuck.” It can’t be any worse than snake.
Not bad. Not like chicken. More like rabbit.
After the meal we lay on the wooden platform and watched the stars circle the sky.
Bok explaioned that rat-catching is a good business. “150 one kilo. Make one day 500 baht. Rat steal rice. People eat rat. Good idea, mai?”
I don’t think Mickey Mouse would like it, but he’s the house mouse for Disneyland.
Mai aroi.
For a related article click on this URL