NORTHERN TERRITORY NEWS (Darwin, Australia) 06 October 08 Visiting TV show host eats a pesty cane toad (Emily Watkins)
Cane toads might be the menace of northern Australia, but visiting Americans have turned them into a culinary delight.
An American travel and cuisine television program went on a Toadbust with cane toad elimination group FrogWatch last week.
And after helping catch 69 of the pests at Lee Point, host Andrew Zimmern ate them.
Zimmern's chef prepared the toad legs in a garlic and white wine sauce, and deep-fried them with sweet chilli sauce.
Chefs skinned the legs and avoided toxins when preparing them.
FrogWatch assistant co-ordinator Erin Britton took Zimmern's lead in trying the legs, and said they tasted like chicken.
"It was obviously quite a novelty," she said. "I'll try anything once."
Ms Britton said only the bigger toads had legs with enough meat on them to eat, and they were tough and sinewy in the joints.
"I've eaten frogs' legs in Asia, and they were meatier and tastier," she said.
"But there's probably many ways to cook them."
Ms Britton said if they were proven to be safe to eat, the cane toad problem in Australia could be curbed.
"If it's a way of controlling the toads, it should be looked into," she said.
Others who tried the Darwin delicacies also said the legs tasted like chicken.
While Zimmern and Ms Britton both survived their cane toad experience unscathed, FrogWatch does not recommend adding them to tasty recipes around the Territory before they are proven to be safe.
Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern spent a week in the Top End eating obscure foods.
The outback Australia episode - featuring the Top End - will screen on cable television in Australia in mid-2009.
Visiting TV show host eats a pesty cane toad