Frog legs with scallions, chili clarified butter and yogurt

In the pond are tons of these bullfrogs. Well, there were before Jim killed them all with his 22.

The reason for the slaughter is that they are an invasive species and kill the native green tree frogs. They used to make the biggest racket before the genocide. Being a farmer is all about being practical. They had to go because they were pests. This is not the first time I've had to deal with this kind of problem.

In the goat barn at the dairy, there was something pooing in the water buckets . It was very annoying. I would fill the water and then in the morning there would be huge turds floating in it. I would empty it, scrub it out and fill it up. I was supposed to put a cover on it at night but I always forgot and invariably, there would be a turd island the next day. One evening, I was cleaning the barn when a coon ran across the loft. I had spotted the culprit. I went and found farmer Layne and asked her if she had her gun.
"Not on me. Is that coon in the barn?"
"Yep." She went into the house and got the rifle and I got a pitchfork to protect myself. I went into the loft to try to flush it out. I was pretty scared. I heard a patter of feet on the barn floor, then a shot. I didn't see a thing. "Did you get it?"
"Yeah. Go ahead and throw it in the woods." And that was it. But no it wasn't; a few days later when I walked into the barn, I found a helpless baby raccoon in a plastic bucket. It was growling. Not a sweet noise: like some kind of little Stephen King monster. It's tiny paws were scratching at the air, at me. Layne said, " get rid of it." With a stick, I trapped it in another, smaller pail. "Should I kill it?"

Layne replied kind of gruffly that she didn't care. That something would eat it if I put it in the woods. So that's what I did. I didn't have the same rush I had gotten from killing it's mother. This seemed cruel. This animal had no chance. It just sat were I placed it, whining, it didn't have the wherewithal to even run off and hide. I was abandoning it to the gory reality of nature, hidden back there behind the house in a patch of brambles.
Coons aren't the only pests out here. There are crows eating the tomatoes and and a vole devouring the beets and carrot patch and then, it is hard to believe, but everyone wants to kill the bald eagles. They are beautiful birds, but they eat the chickens. I've gone out to feed them and on more than one occasion there is just a ring of feathers in the pasture. An egg laying, revenue producing part of the business eaten and the damned eagle doesn't even eat the meat, just the eviscera. Oh, and don't forget the foxes, and the bugs, and the stupid deer.

Anyway, I figure if we are going to kill it, we should at least try to eat it. So I made some frog's legs.

Sauteed Frog Legs with Scallions, Chili Seasoned Clarified Butter, and Fresh Yogurt

Take a 1/4 cup of fresh butter and put in a pan with a pinch of chili flakes, a clove of garlic, and the white part of a scallion, and simmer very slowly to season the butter and to clarify. When it tastes like the aromatics, strain and let sit to separate again. Skim the stuff off the top and pour off butter, leaving the the cloudy bits in the bottom of the pan.

Clean the frogs by cutting off feet and slicing the skin all the way around the neck. With a pliers, peel off the skin. Season with salt and pepper and then saute at high heat. When cooked, toss with scallion tops and butter. Serve with some fresh yogurt.