Today we turn into baby-killers, and chomp into Giant hornet larvae – the immature large wriggling babies of the black & orange wasp that lives in hives high in the treetops of North Thailand.
The wasp in question is called “dua dtor” in Thai language, and the plump wriggling babies that we are about to squash into gastronomic bliss look a bit like an Australian witchetty grub or a New Zealand huhu grub.
Similarly, they can be eaten raw, or tossed in a wok until crispy and fried salt and pepper style.
The raw grub is an OK taste.
Apart from getting your head around the ‘fat white grub’ aspect, they actually taste and feel a bit like bland mashed potato. Like mashed potato, dipping in a little salt is a great move if you want to liven up the taste.
I wasn’t so impressed with them raw, mainly due to the texture. It didn’t make me crave more. But when it was made into a Northern style ‘nam prik’ dip with charcoal roasted chillies, I have to say it was pretty damn good.
I was rolling balls of sticky rice greedily and scooping out dollops of the ‘tasty grub’ with no shame. The nest looks like a beehive made of cardboard, viewed under a magnifying glass.
I was wondering about the nasty black nest, and why the hell nobody gets nailed while they are out grabbing their waspy dinner. These bad boys DO have a powerful sting that can kill you, so it pays not to piss them off.
The secret is in getting a long stick with a wee fire on the end of it and semi-burning the wasp nest. If I was a giant hornet, I’d takle great exception to this, but it seems to work for the gatherers.
The miffed wasps who escape the fire dissipate, and the burnt nest gets pulled down with any remaining wasps dead. The ones who are out hunting come back to a nasty surprise of finding their house not only burned down – but also stolen.
Wasps don’t have insurance, nor do they have a car to get home in. They can’t be happy when they see the missing nest. Just what we need. Irate wasps.
I’d imagine that after a hard day of flying around barren orchards looking for food or prey, the last thing they want do do when they get home is build a new residence or look for a replacement family.
Perhaps if they had a nagging wife though….. Never mind. The easiest way to go about obtaining this luxury is to whip down to the makeshift street- market.
When some brave soul has found a wasp nest and wants to pocket the hard-earned cash, they tend to sell them in the local ‘baan’ or village. For a piece the size of two cigarette packets, it costs around 40 baht, which is around $1.20.
Here’s the recipe, which you can also do with huhu grubs and witchetty grubs. You could do it with bee larvae too, but they are a lot smaller, and it would be a hassle to get them out of the honeycomb.
- Giant hornet larvae – raw
- Large Thai chillies (red or green)
- Salt
- Sugar
Method
- Skewer the chillies whole and roast them over gas flames or charcoal until the skins blister and blacken
- Crush them in a mortar and pestle with a little salt
- Add in the hornet larvae
- Crush them up.
Serve with sticky rice. Roll the sticky rice into balls, dip it into the nam prik – and that’s it.
Delicious actually, almost like a smoky eggplant dip (Think babaganoush!)
It even looks like an eggplant dip. This is one of the insect dishes that is really great.
Packed full of energy, this is a fantastic tasting dish with an excellent texture and mouth-feel and do need to get your head around the fact you are eating bug babies.
I have photos on the original blog posting so you can see the whole process, and I’m happy to answer any questions. I also have more insect cuisine documented.
I’d love to see you and hear your questions and feedback at http://chef-a-gogo.com/ [http://chef-a-gogo.com/2010/07/stirring-up-a-hornets-nest-giant-wasp-larvae-nam-prik-dip/]