This is not a joke!
A friend of mine has a beaver problem on his property and wants to eradicate them. We have shot about 10 since the summer, but they all sank. I had been talking to my neighbor about it and he suggested that we cook one. I had never heard of anybody eating beaver meat. I did however see it on a few food shows, Bourdain/Zimmer. So closing weekend of duck season we killed a beaver and actually recovered this one. We dressed it out and its currently in the freezer, we are looking for some recipies for it. We think we should just cook it whole on the rotisserie? Have any of yall ever cooked any, and what are your thoughts on it? Oh yeah, its a big one too, it weighed about 60lbs, dressed out it still weighed 45lbs. Also, what about racoon, because we have one in the freezer too, just thought we might try it! All input is appreciated!

Hey, at least you know what you set yourself up with that title.

Can't be bad ground into the sausage or in the gumbo. Try those beaver straps wrapped in bacon!

Nice

BBQ BEAVER-WICHES

Ingredients:
1 medium beaver, cut into serving pieces
1 cup chili sauce
1 cup beer
3 T. brown sugar
2 T. minced onion
1 T. minced garlic
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp. liquid smoke
Dash hot pepper sauce
Salt and black pepper to taste
Kaiser rolls
Cole slaw for a relish

In Dutch oven, combine all ingredients except Kaiser rolls and cole slaw; stir well to mix. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 1/2 hours, or until meat is falling from bone. Remove beaver pieces with tongs and set aside until cool enough to handle. Pull meat from
bones and return to sauce; discard bones. Reheat gently if necessary. Warm Kaiser rolls in oven and fill with meat mixture. Top with cole slaw. This is also very good served over rice.

Beaver - just cause it's a giant flat tailed rat that doesn't mean it doesn't taste good.

From Wiki: "Common rodents include mice, rats, squirrels, porcupines, beavers, guinea pigs, and hamsters"

so if the beaver works out right, you guys can start having a buffet....

On the raccoon I have only had it one way and it was good. Others have assured me this is the only way to go. First parboil it. That with float the grease out. Then pat it down with a paper towel or clean kitchen towel to soak up any remaining on the surface. Next fire up the grill, cut it up and BBQ basting with sauce.

I know reading of the old mountain men that they favored beavertail. I have not seen a recipe in years, but a net search is where I would start.

Beaver would be interesting, coon sounds gross. Mainly because of the differences in their diet. I've had lots of squirrel growing up in Louisiana and always liked it. Sounds like a good slab of beaver you got, let us know how it was. I've also heard that beaver tail was a prized possession.

You had me at the title of the post.......

Racoon cooked properly is some mighty fine eatin', don't hold back on the coon. Beaver, I don't know. I saw Zimmern eat a Porcupine once and he said it was OK, so go for it and let us know how it turns out.

I don't trust Zimmerman, but that aside, I have eaten Possum once, cooked up by an old Mexican woman, it was damn good and proved to me that if you use the right spices anything can be good fried

I've eaten beaver nuggets from Buc-cees

I saw this going in a different direction.

My wife was the kid of a poor single mother in British Columbia (Canada for you texans...) and the guys that trapped beavers out of the Thompson River basin for flood control used to bring the skinned beavers to them for food all the time. I don't guess it hurt her any, but she does have big front teeth.....

That's just too dang funny!!!

How is she on slapping the water????????????

Have you check between her toes for webs??

I bet she can keep you warm in the winter!

You know this could go on and on...............and on!

There had to be some jokes in there somewhere. Thanks guys, for keeping it "classy".

...the funny part is that it is all true.....

Stay classy San Diego

We had our big cookout on Mother's Day weekend. Everything turned out great, atleast I thought so! We had deer steaks and ribs, wild hog, raccoon, beaver, duck, and a rabbit, and burgers/hotdogs. We made "mystery" kabobs, that had a little of each meat on them, nobody knew what was on them! We smoked the raccoon whole, it was pretty damn good! Had the look and texture of a potroast, and the flavor of roast beef. We also smoked the beaver whole, to me it had the texture of duck and the roast beef flavor and feel. It was not as good as the raccoon, but I would do it again. The deer was devoured, I guess deer is not "scary" to eat anymore! We smoked a few ducks, wrapped some in bacon and jalepenos, did some beer can ducks, and then had some duck fajitas. Rabbit stew, well we forgot to plug toe crockpot in so it kinda went bad on us from the start! Wild hog, well who doesn't like all natural pork! Overall it was really good, the beaver was not the best, but I can check it off the list of random things to eat!

I didn't realize it was still legal to hunt beaver, so I looked it up, and indeed, it is. Season is from September 1 through August 31 (all year), and there is no bag limit.

Beaver is very edible, has long been eaten in Europe and North America. Interestingly, during medieval times the Vatican considered beavers "fish", so they were allowed as food during Lent.

In the classic wilderness survival guide "How To Stay Alive In The Woods", Bradford Angier talks about beaver meat being excellent eating, comparing it to turkey in flavor. He also waxes about the deliciousness of the contents of the scaly tail. You'll have to try the tail next time.

http://books.google.com/books?id=NTC87u ... il&f=false

This thread sponsered by Buc-ees.

When I was younger living in Iowa I use to trap in junior high and high school. If I caught a "kit" (a yearling beaver) an old man use to make beaver tail soup out of them. I never tried it but I know it could be done.

Growing up, we had a rule in our house...

If you kill it, you eat it...

I have eaten Beaver, Raccoon, muskrat, all sorts of birds, deer, elk, black bear and when I came to Texas, Wild Hog...
We didn't have Hogs in Colorado then...

I can't say I really liked Beaver or raccoon. The bear was ok when my uncle cooked it, but he could cook a turd and it would probably taste good...

God Bless,
Doc S