Horse Meat

Equus ferus caballus · Meat

40 pairings

Horse meat is the flesh of the domestic horse (Equus ferus caballus), eaten across France, Italy, Japan, Central Asia and beyond. Very lean, fine-grained and a deep dark red that browns almost purple, it is distinctly sweeter than beef, tender and faintly gamey; rich in iron and low in fat, it is eaten raw as sashimi, cured, ground for steak tartare, and grilled or braised.

Tastes like

SavouryMedium

RichGentle

Aroma

meatyanimal

Texture

fibrousjuicytender

The full flavour profile

Pairs well with

Chicken gizzard Pigeon Duck gizzard Emu Ostrich Turkey breast

All 40 pairings, ranked and explained

Per 100 g

133kcal

0gcarbs

21gprotein

4.6gfat

0gfibre

Full breakdown, scaled to your portion

Good to know

Horse meat is distinctly sweeter than beef because horse muscle stores unusually high levels of glycogen, which breaks down into glucose and gives the cooked meat a characteristic slightly sweet, faintly gamey taste.

More about horse meat

Preparing