Chicken Fried Mountain Lion! (Yes, Mountain Lion)

Normally, I have great respect for Mountain Lions. Any animal that is fast enough to chase down a 200lb Mule Deer for supper, and strong enough to carry the carcass 20 feet up into a Ponderosa Pine tree to stash it for later, well, I'd salute it.  But... when a local rancher is trying to make a living raising cattle, and that same animal keeps stealing his product?  It needs to go!  Especially when the Parks and Wildlife Dept. legally declares it a nuisance animal.  What do you do?  You EAT it!!

Chicken Fried Mountain Lion

Big cats bring several challenges to a Chef's cutting board:

They can carry trichinosis, so they need to be cooked to 160 or better, and it's hard to keep things tender at those temperatures.

They are super-lean!  You don't see many fat cats strolling through the woods, so you need to bring your own fat to the party if you want any flavor enhancement.

They're skinny!  Butchers won't find any roasts on these animals, they break down into Lion Steaks or cutlets, and lots of ground meat for Lion-Burgers.

Me?  I made Chicken Fried Lion Steaks and a huge pile of Mountain Lion Tacos!  Let's do this!

You will need:

• 1.5 Cups Panko Bread Crumbs
• 2 Cups Flour
• 3 Eggs
• 1 Cup of Milk
• Salt and Pepper

I was working with a total of 4 cutlets.  As you can see, there's not a lot of fat here.  They present a lot like pork cutlets, and they were very similar in taste and texture.  They were thick, so to successfully fry them in a pan, they were going to have to get a lot thinner!

Slip them into a zip-top bag and get a kitchen mallet with a smooth side.  Start pounding, gently!  The goal here is to have a nice cutlet, about 1/4" thick, that is completely uniform in thickness.

It helps if you place the meat so that the grain is perpendicular to the surface that you're pounding on.  Once you're finished with the mallet, leave the cutlets in the bag while you get your dredge station ready.

Notice, I use my sink as the first stage in my dredge.  I put the flour in the sink (it makes a mess anyway, so why get another bowl dirty?).  Whisk your eggs together vigorously before adding the milk, and season the cutlets with salt and pepper. 

The cutlets are dredged in flour first, then the egg mix, then the Panko bread crumbs, then onto a clean plate.  These little beauties are ready to hit the fat!

Get out your biggest skillet (don't you just LOVE my cast iron pan?) and add about 1/4" of olive oil.  Bring it up to about 350 degrees over medium high heat.

Lay in the cutlets and watch them sizzle!  They'll need to cook on the first side for about 6 minutes.  Flip them over with tongs, when that first side is golden brown.

After you turn them, drop the heat to medium and let them cook until the interior temperature hits 160 degrees!  Slide them onto a pan and let them cool a bit before serving.

You could make some gravy with 2Tbsp of the fat from the pan, 2 Tbsp of flour from the sink (whisked thoroughly) and 1.5 Cups of whole milk, heated slowly until it thickens. 

I really enjoyed these!  If you'd have blind-folded me, I'd have sworn they were pork cutlets!  Is this enough to entice me to seek out a Mountain Lion permit every year, to hunt?  Probably not... but if I were the rancher, there's no better sweet revenge than to sink your teeth into your adversary's butt!  Literally...