National Frog Legs Day is on February 29th. It makes sense that frogs are the unofficial Leap Day mascot. Perhaps it’s because they leap over the 29th on non-leap years or maybe because they didn’t leap over on leap years. Anyway, it’s National Frog Legs Day. You can pretend you have frog legs and leap around, eat gummy frogs, eat real frog legs, or even sample some Vegan frog legs.
Frog’s legs are one of the better-known delicacies of French and Chinese cuisine but are appreciated around the world. Other areas keen on the delicacy include the Southern United States, Albania, the Alentejo region of Portugal, Cambodia, Indonesia, Northern Italy, Northwestern Greece, Romania, Spain, Slovenia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Frog legs are rich in protein, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin A, and potassium. But what do they taste like? “They taste like chicken,” the cliché used to describe the flavor of an unusual food. Frogs legs have mild flavor and a texture most similar to chicken wings. Some have called the taste and texture of frog meat a cross between chicken and fish. In fact, only the upper joint of the hind leg is served in the dish, which has a bone similar to the joint of a chicken wing.
Frog legs are a traditional item on classic French cuisine menus, where they are prepared with butter, garlic and sometimes parsley sauce and served only with salad or steamed rice. The dish is popular in French speaking parts of Louisiana, particularly the Cajun areas of Southern Louisiana as well as New Orleans.
Speaking of New Orleans, frog legs were introduced to the U.S. in the 1880s by a gourmet chef in New Orleans, Donat Pucheu. He sold juicy bullfrogs to New Orleans restaurants. The delectable dishes became popular immediately in the French speaking parts of Louisiana: not just New Orleans but also the Cajun areas of Southern Louisiana. The sales of frog’s legs attracted the Weill Brothers from France, who started a lucrative business exporting frogs from Rayne, Louisiana in Acadia Parish, to restaurants in Louisiana and beyond. Rayne then became known as the capital of frog’s legs. For years, world-renowned restaurants like Sardi’s in New York boasted of offering frog legs from Rayne, Louisiana.
Today, the vast majority of frog’s legs enjoyed in the U.S. come from abroad. As of 2014, the world’s largest exporter of edible frogs was Indonesia. Japan is another large exporter of commercially farmed frog’s legs. In Brazil, the Caribbean and Mexico and the Caribbean, many frogs are still caught wild as opposed to farms [source]. But harvesting wild frogs has its share of environmental impact: Bangladesh at one time supplied most of the frogs-legs consumed in the U.S. But the Bangladesh government discovered that its fly and mosquito populations increased drastically, with fewer frogs to eat them. It was more expensive to control the flies with insecticides, so they banned the export of frogs.
Want to try frog legs but don’t know where to start? Serve them as you would any fish dish: Baked Grilled, Fried, Poached or steamed Sautéed, as in the classic French preparation. Don’t get freaked if the legs twitch when you cook them. Frog muscles do not resolve rigor mortis as quickly as muscles from warm-blooded animals (chicken, for example) do, so heat from cooking can cause fresh frog legs to twitch.
Being Vegan doesn’t exclude you from being able to celebrate National Frog Legs Day. Here’s a great recipe from the American Vegan Society for BBQ “Frog” Legs you can dip into.
Other ways to enjoy frog legs: Add them to stews and stir-frys, include them in mixed grills, and of course… serve them as part of Surf & Turf, which also happens to be celebrated on February 29. Hey, you can celebrate both Leap Day holidays in one dish!
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Photo Credit: Piotr Krzeslak / Shutterstock.com