Ostrich substitutes

The leanest tender cut of beef, cooked the same way as an ostrich steak or fan fillet.

Best for

pan-seared steaks, grilling, medallions with sauce, carpaccio and tartare, kebabs

The best all-round answer and the one to use if you only remember one thing from this page. Beef fillet is tender, fine-grained and mild, which is exactly ostrich's profile, and it takes the same short high-heat cooking. Two differences to expect: beef fillet has slightly more intramuscular fat, so it is more forgiving and comes out juicier, and ostrich has a faintly sweeter, very slightly gamey edge that beef does not, so a peppery or fruity sauce that suited ostrich will taste a little more one-note. Cook it the same, to about 130F, and rest it.

Farmed or wild deer loin, the closest match on the site for ostrich's leanness.

Best for

pan-seared steaks, grilling, medallions with berry or wine sauces, smoking, carpaccio

Technically the most accurate substitute. Both meats are dark, very lean, fine-grained and quick-cooking, and both are ruined by the same mistake of cooking them past medium rare. Venison is more assertive, with a clear iron-and-forest gaminess and a sweetness that ostrich has only a hint of, so the dish tastes wilder. It is also usually more expensive and harder to buy than beef. If your recipe pairs ostrich with red wine, juniper or fruit, venison will taste like it belonged there all along.

The other lean red meats sold in the same specialty freezers as ostrich.

Best for

steaks, grilling, burgers and boerewors-style sausage, stir-fries, anywhere ostrich is called for

Effectively interchangeable, and emu in particular is close enough that it can be hard to tell apart on the plate. Kangaroo is the leanest of the group and the most strongly flavored, noticeably more iron-rich and slightly liver-like, so it reads as a bigger, wilder version of ostrich. Both share ostrich's narrow window of doneness, so treat them identically: hot pan, two to three minutes a side, rest, and never past medium rare. If you found ostrich in a shop, one of these is often on the shelf beside it.

Leaner, more strongly flavored beef cuts for sliced and stir-fried dishes.

Best for

stir-fries, ostrich stroganoff, salads with warm sliced meat, sosaties and kebabs, fajita-style dishes

The practical, affordable choice when the ostrich was going to be sliced anyway. These cuts have more beefy depth than fillet, which is welcome in a sauced dish, and they cost a fraction as much. What changes is chew: they have a coarser grain and a bit more bite, so slice them thinly against the grain and they eat close to ostrich. Skirt and flank also want a slightly hotter, faster sear than fillet or ostrich does, and they benefit from a thirty-minute marinade in the way ostrich does not.

Collagen-rich braising beef standing in for ostrich neck, shin or stewing meat.

Best for

potjiekos, stews and casseroles, pies, curries, slow-cooker dishes

The right substitute for the ostrich cuts that get braised rather than seared, and honestly an easier ingredient to work with. Chuck and shin are laced with fat and connective tissue, so they turn silky and self-saucing over two to three hours, while ostrich stewing meat is so lean it can go dry and grainy even in liquid. Expect a richer, glossier, more obviously beefy pot than an ostrich potjie, and slightly less of that clean, faintly sweet flavor. Because there is more fat, skim the surface before serving.

The honest bird-based options, for cooks who want to keep the dish poultry.

Best for

burgers and patties, stir-fries, sliced pan-seared dishes, casseroles

Offered with a warning, because this is the substitution people reach for and it is the least accurate. Turkey thigh is the darkest, most savory poultry that is easy to buy, but it is still pale, mild and much softer than ostrich, so a peri-peri ostrich steak becomes a pleasant turkey dish rather than a close imitation. It also has to be cooked through, where ostrich must not be. Duck breast is a far better bird choice, since it is dark, dense and served pink, though it is fatty where ostrich has almost no fat at all. If you use turkey, add beef stock, soy sauce or mushrooms to rebuild the savory depth you have lost.