"There's no need to waste the abdomen. It is advisable to at least slit it to avoid an explosion during cooking. Smaller specimens without urticating hairs to remove can simply be pierced prior to cooking. Insects with very firm exoskeletons (cicadas, for instance) actually do fine in the deep fryer without being slit or pierced at all. Something very soft like a hornworm you'd definitely want to fillet first to avoid painful explosions. Packages of intermediate durability, like spicebush swallowtail pupae, only had a few in the batch "pop" in the saute pan. Firming them by parboiling before frying reduced that rate even further. Native eaters of the giant spider species typically burn the hairs off in a fire, as they evolved specifically to be irritants when kicked into the eyes, nose or mouth of predators. I strongly recommend caution when denaturing these hairs, as they aren't good to swallow or inhale and some individuals can be very sensitive to them." CHEFSWILD FROM RALEIGH, NC
Comments
"There's no need to waste the abdomen. It is advisable to at least slit it to avoid an explosion during cooking. Smaller specimens without urticating hairs to remove can simply be pierced prior to cooking. Insects with very firm exoskeletons (cicadas, for instance) actually do fine in the deep fryer without being slit or pierced at all. Something very soft like a hornworm you'd definitely want to fillet first to avoid painful explosions. Packages of intermediate durability, like spicebush swallowtail pupae, only had a few in the batch "pop" in the saute pan. Firming them by parboiling before frying reduced that rate even further. Native eaters of the giant spider species typically burn the hairs off in a fire, as they evolved specifically to be irritants when kicked into the eyes, nose or mouth of predators. I strongly recommend caution when denaturing these hairs, as they aren't good to swallow or inhale and some individuals can be very sensitive to them."
CHEFSWILD FROM RALEIGH, NC