# The Beaver Chronicles



## wyogoob

Where I come from beaver was standard table fare at all the wild game feeds. Normally 2 or 3 different beaver dishes were offered at every event. I haven't had beaver since 1988, in Lac La Ronge Saskatchewan and I'm hungry for it.

My son-in-law does nuisance trapping and yesterday he gave me a fresh yearling beaver. This thread chronicles my culinary adventures with the big rodent. 

A yearling beaver fresh out of the trap:


A nice lean beaver, gutted with the castor gland removed:


Here's all of the beaver, except the head. I took the thymus glands off the briskets. They are the little pieces of meat on the top left in the picture below. Saved the heart and liver too. I've never eaten beaver liver before. They say it tastes like goose liver, we'll see:


Proportionately beavers have a large liver:


Here's the beaver tail and the butt piece. Beavers store fat in their tail and butt. The gelatinous fat has no flavor but great "mouth feel". The butt is muscular and fatty and has that wonderful willow taste you'll find in moose and ptarmigan:


Besides the big ole castor gland beavers have 4 small scent glands, 2 on the back between the shoulders and 1 under each armpit. Be careful not to accidentally cut these nasty glands with a knife. Here's a picture of the "kernels" that come from the armpits:


Gawd, who doesn't love beaver? This will be fun. Recipes will follow.


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## wyogoob

*beaver sweetbreads*

I've never purposely had beaver sweetbreads before. You'll only find them on young beavers, the thymus gland sort of disappears when the animal reaches maturity. I'm sure I've unknowingly eaten them though. They can be hard to find if you don't know what you're looking for. They're at the top right in this picture; not much to them:


Nothing magical about cooking beaver sweetbreads. Roll in seasoned flour and fry in butter. Add a splash of wine to the butter if you like: 


Surprisingly, the glands have little flavor. Don't over cook them:


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## TPrawitt91

Goob you sure know your way around wild game. That's impressive. Looks real good!


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## wyogoob

*beaver butt soup*

As mentioned before beavers store fat in their tails. There's little meat there, just a mess of gooey fat with hardly any flavor. There is however a "butt" structure behind the rear legs that also stores fat and has a fair amount of muscle used to power the tail.

Instead of cooking the tail the traditional way, over a fire, I opted to precook the tail and the butt piece "sous vide". The tail was scrubbed clean with hot soapy water and rinsed. A 1/2 cup solution of water, beef bouillon, onion salt and black pepper was placed in the vacuum bag along with the tail and butt piece:

before


after


The sous vide package was cooked in a crock pot of water on low for 4 hours and then on warm for 12 hours. The tail was left to cool and then it was skinned and the bones were removed from both the tail and the butt piece:


The tail fat is gelatinous and acts as a thickening agent in the soup:


The beaver tail and butt meat was cut into bite-sized pieces and used in a pot of bean soup:


Beaver butt soup ingredients:


 beaver tail and butt meat
 4 - 14 oz cans butter beans
 1/2 lb - bacon, fried and chopped
 1 - medium onion, chopped
 1 cup - water
 salt and pepper to taste
 

The onions were cooked in the bacon grease and added to the pot. Fresh sourdough bread was served on the side:


Fantastic!


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## GaryFish

Goob. You just ain't right. Not right at all. My goodness brother.


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## Critter

It would be interesting to spend a week at Goobs home and not knowing what he was going to feed you for dinner each night. -O|o--O,-


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## AF CYN

Beaver Butt Soup! Seriously, Goob, you've got to be one of the coolest people on this planet.


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## wyogoob

AF CYN said:


> Beaver Butt Soup! Seriously, Goob, you've got to be one of the coolest people on this planet.


Kind words, thank you sir.

.


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## wyogoob

*parboiled beaver*

This bit is on how to salvage the meat from the beaver's trunk and head, uh...the carcass after the legs and back pieces are removed.

Fresh beaver can be a little fishy, somewhat slimy, and it reminds me in many ways of turtle. Like turtle, beaver requires a trick or two to parboil the meat off the bones while "neutralizing" any wild flavors and without over-cooking the meat.

Parboiling beaver


Add a couple quarts of lightly salted water and 2 cut up carrots to a large pot and bring to a boil.
Reduce to a simmer and add the beaver bones. Simmer for 30 minutes.
Dump the pot into the sink. Discard the carrots and rinse off the beaver in hot water.
Clean the pot and then add: 2 Bay leaves, 1 small quartered onion, 2 cut-up carrots, 1 stalk of celery, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp whole allspice, 1/2 tsp peppercorns and enough beef broth to cover everything. Throw in some lemon wedges if it's an old beaver.
Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes.
Add the beaver scraps and simmer until the meat just starts to fall off the bones. The liquid (stock) should be relatively clear at this point.
Remove the meat from the pot and rinse it off in hot water.
Strain the stock and set aside. Discard the vegetables and spices.
When cool remove the meat from the bones and save for later.
Cook the final stock for a while before adding the beaver:


Add the beaver and more broth, if necessary, to cover:


Rinse the meat:


Remove the meat from the bones. This meat was shredded into small pieces to be used for BBQ:


Ended up with about a pound of parboiled meat that was vacuum packaged and then frozen for later use:


This is a also a good way to prep beaver meat for deep fat frying.

If the meat falls off the bones it has been cooked too long.

More later on the parboiled meat.

.


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## Dunkem

Now Im really impressed!! Looks fantastic.


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## GaryFish

I just googled "how to eat beaver" and now I have a meeting with HR and the IT guy. Not a good day.


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## Dunkem

GaryFish said:


> I just googled "how to eat beaver" and now I have a meeting with HR and the IT guy. Not a good day.


Now that there is funny!!!:mrgreen:

Edit: Look at it this way your on top (top o page)


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## neverdrawn

GaryFish said:


> I just googled "how to eat beaver" and now I have a meeting with HR and the IT guy. Not a good day.


Whew, I was beginning to think I was the only guy who's mind is far enough in the gutter to inspire such thoughts on this topic.


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## SCtransplant

Eating an animal most would throw in the ditch, good on you man.


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## 2full

Kind of eating mountain lion...........
Best #=%×× you will ever eat. 

I really tried not to say it.


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## bowgy

GaryFish said:


> I just googled "how to eat beaver" and now I have a meeting with HR and the IT guy. Not a good day.


OOhhh.....now I get it.......I think:shock:


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## wyogoob

:shock:


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## wyogoob

*fried beaver liver*

Settle down fellas, geeze.

Uh.....Hey, I just can't get enough beaver.  So let's chronicle everyone's favorite, beaver liver. Here's how ya do it:


Slice the liver into pieces. Place in a ziploc bag and cover with lightly salted water. Store in a cool place overnight.
Rinse the liver with cold water. Place in a ziploc bag and cover with lightly salted milk.
Soak in the milk for at least 3 or 4 hours and then rinse with cold water.
Mix your favorite seasonings with 1/2 cup of flour and then coat the liver in the seasoned flour.
In a large skillet over medium heat cook sliced onions in butter or bacon grease for about 4 minutes.
Add the sliced liver and fry until brown, turning once. I like my liver to have just a touch of pink in it.
Serve with mashed potatoes:


They say beaver liver tastes like goose liver. They must mean domestic goose liver because this beaver liver did not taste anything like wild goose liver. And I was expecting beaver liver to have some willow flavor but it did not. It was mild tasting with no disagreeable flavors or odors:


Milder than deer or elk liver, if you're a liver fan I'd give this a try.
.


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## wyogoob

*fried beaver liver*

Here's a picture for those of you, like *GaryFish, *that aren't big fans of liver.

Liver is the big dark thing on the left:


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## wyogoob

*Oh boy, fried beaver liver for breakfast*

Leftover liver n onions with eggs for breakfast...Life is good.


Eyegottago, busier than a beaver today.

.


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## 2full

Ya, I like liver too. ;-)


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## 35whelen

I served roadkilled beaver at a work barbeque. no idea what i was doing. just threw hind quarter in crockpot n used my wife's French dip recipe. everyone ate it knowing what it was and where it came from. they said they enjoyed it and politely kept their judgment of my character to themselves. i thought meat was a little dry. smelled like willow when i was quartering it. wish i had had this info at the time


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## wyogoob

35whelen said:


> I served roadkilled beaver at a work barbeque. no idea what i was doing. just threw hind quarter in crockpot n used my wife's French dip recipe. everyone ate it knowing what it was and where it came from. they said they enjoyed it and politely kept their judgment of my character to themselves. i thought meat was a little dry. smelled like willow when i was quartering it. wish i had had this info at the time


Neat. You can definitely smell the willow in a beaver.


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## Critter

wyogoob said:


> Neat. You can definitely smell the willow in a beaver.


I can hear it now, "eat a beaver burger and call me in the morning"


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## wyogoob

*Rutabaga Beaver*

Haven't had any beaver in awhile? Gawd, I'm with ya there.

It's Fall, hunting season, time to use any rutabagas that are in the fruit cellar and eat that beaver that's been in the deep freeze all these months....uh...you know what I'm mean, make room for this year's elk meat. So here we go, Rutabaga Beaver.

Ingredients:


2 lbs - beaver, cut up
2 lbs - rutabagas, sliced 1/4"
 1 cup - pearl onions
 2 cups - milk
 1 cup - flour
 salt n pepper to taste
 3 - garlic cloves, minced
 1/2 cup - bacon grease
 fresh parsley
 > Cut the beaver into serving size pieces. Trim off any fat. Here's a hind leg, a front leg and one-half of the back:


> Soak the meat in a bowl of lightly salted milk for 2 or 3 hours, overnight would be OK too. 
> Coat the beaver with seasoned flour and then brown in bacon grease. Reserve any leftover grease.
> Make a bed of sliced rutabagas in a large casserole dish. Sprinkle minced garlic on top.
> Add the browned beaver meat.
> Arrange the pearl onions and the rest of the sliced rutabagas around the beaver meat.
> Pour the bacon grease from the fry pan over everything. Add a little water if you want.


> Bake in a 325° oven for 2 hours or until the rutabagas are done. 
> The minimum internal temperature of the beaver meat should be 160°.
> Note: the rutabagas will take longer to cook than the meat.


Instead of having the background fuzzy in my pictures I have the foreground fuzzy....uh...maybe I'm holding my camera upside down. I'll have ta look.


Serve with fresh sourdough bread:


It's not gamey or muddy at all and has a wonderful hint of willow, similar to what one would find in moose meat:


This won't be the last time I make this dish!
.


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## OldRookie

Very cool thread!


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## T-dubs-42

legendary


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## NHS

I swear Goob. You are the coolest cat I've never met.


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## 35whelen

looks great


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## willfish4food

Man, I've wanted to try beaver for quite some time. This thread will come in handy if I can ever get my hands on one.


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## LostLouisianian

willfish4food said:


> Man, I've wanted to try beaver for quite some time. This thread will come in handy if I can ever get my hands on one.


I've got an old pair of leather boots I used to tromp around in mud with you can cook, I'm sure they taste just like beaver. ;-)


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## wyogoob

*Beaver Bourguignon*

Nothing can instill the Holiday spirit like a little beaver. Here's a great recipe for these cold winter days: Beaver Bourguignon. Usually made with beef or big game meat, I used beaver:
 
One-half of a beaver was used; a front and a hind leg, and one of the two back pieces (saddle). Cut the meat off the bones when the beaver is a little frosty and be sure to trim off any fat and white skin.

Typically pearl onions are used. I substituted the onions with hearty root vegetables; rutabagas, turnips and parsnips.

The mushrooms were dried King Boletes from the High Uintas.

*Ingredients:*
8 oz - salt pork, diced 1/4"
2lbs - boneless beaver, cubed 1"
1 cup - red wine
2 - 14.5 oz cans beef broth
2 tbsp - tomato paste
1/4 cup - flour
3 cloves - garlic, minced
2 tbsp - fresh thyme, minced
3 medium - carrots, sliced diagonally
1 small - rutabaga, diced 1" 
1 small - turnip, diced 1"
2/3 cup - parsnips, diced 1"
8 oz - mushrooms, sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup - parsley, chopped

*Directions:*
· In a large skillet over medium heat cook the salt pork. Transfer the cooked salt pork bits to a crock pot.
· Salt and pepper the beaver meat. Brown in the salt pork grease 2 or 3 minutes on each side. Transfer browned beaver meat to the crock pot.
· Add the garlic, thyme, red wine, tomato paste and 1 can of beef broth to the skillet. Reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes. 
· Mix the flour with the other can of beef broth until dissolved. Blend in with the sauce in the skillet. 
· Add the sauce to the crock pot.
· Add the vegetables and mushrooms to the crock pot and stir. Cook on low for 8 hours or until the meat is tender. 
· Garnish with chopped parsley and serve with crusty bread.

*Comments:*
· Some or all of the beef broth can be substituted with beaver broth made by simmering the beaver bones in a small pot of salted water with some carrots and onion slices.
· It's great served on top of egg noodles, mashed potatoes or a slice of toasted bread.


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## mlob1one

Trapping beaver for the first time this week. I look forward to trying this recipe. 😆🍴

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk


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## wyogoob

mlob1one said:


> Trapping beaver for the first time this week. I look forward to trying this recipe. ����
> 
> Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk


Good for you. Normally the veggies in Bourguignon are carrots and pearl onions. And you gotta have mushrooms.

Hey, that beaver butt soup is to die for; try that.

.


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## wyogoob

*BBQ Beaver from parboiled meat*



wyogoob said:


> This bit is on how to salvage the meat from the beaver's trunk and head, uh...the carcass after the legs and back pieces are removed.
> ..................................................................
> ....................................................................................
> Ended up with about a pound of parboiled meat that was vacuum packaged and then frozen for later use:
> ...............................................................
> ..................................................................
> 
> This is a also a good way to prep beaver meat for deep fat frying.
> 
> If the meat falls off the bones it has been cooked too long.
> 
> More later on the parboiled meat.
> 
> .


OK, it's later.

Parboiled beaver:


Beaver meat, onions, jalapenos and your favorite BBQ sauce:


*BBQ Beaver*
*Ingredients:*
1 lb - parboiled beaver meat
1/2 cup onion, diced
2 tbsp - pickled jalapenos, diced
1/4 tsp - black pepper
2/3 cup - favorite BBQ sauce

*Instructions:
*Easy - throw it all together and cook it until the onions are soft.

Mixed it all together in a casserole dish and cooked it, covered, in a 350° oven for 1 1/2 hrs.* 
*


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## wyogoob

It's been awhile since I had any beaver.

bump


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## wyogoob

Man, once you've had beaver you'll just want it all the time.

So I got another young beaver and had some tail. Some like to clean their beavers with shower gel. I find that dish soap works fine and it's a heck of a lot cheaper. A scented candle and some Eric Clapton music enhances the mood:




Cook the beaver tail and the beaver butt in a crock pot on low overnight. 
Rinse the beaver off and let cool.
Skin the tail and take the beaver butt meat off the bones.



Beaver butt soup, nothing like a little beaver to warm the tummy on a cold November day:


.


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## wyoming2utah

Well, I will give you this credit: If the world as we know it were to suddenly and drastically change and grocery stores were no longer available, at least you would be able to survive. I would likely starve...

Ned Nederlander: Dusty, how do you like your bat?
Dusty Bottoms: Medium rare.


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## gdog




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## 2full

Well......at least I would really enjoy the Clapton music. :mrgreen:


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## 35whelen

I had a beaver tail in my freezer I was saving for a special occasion. I went out in the garage to dig around in the freezer for some elk steaks, and pulled a bunch of packages out and set them on the other chest freezer. I put them all back except the beaver tail and went inside. 24+ hours in the garage in summer heat before my wife found it while I was at work. the words my sweet bride used in that text...


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## 35whelen

also I hear Kieth Sweat works well


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## wyogoob

Haven't had any beaver for awhile and was reminded of this thread.


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## one4fishing

wyogoob said:


> Haven't had any beaver for awhile and was reminded of this thread.


lol me neither ha ha


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