Beaver Merguez

Post by **Butterbean** » Mon Sep 26, 2016 00:19

At the risk of offending the purists I thought I'd experiment and substitute beaver for beef in Merguez. Since beaver tastes the same as beef - only more tender - I thought the substitution would work well. I was a little concerned with leaness of the beaver and since I didn't have any tails - which are simply fat - I decided to add some fatty lamb as a fat source.

Basically used Mr. Marianski's recipe only with the addition of some bird's eye chilis.

For convenience, here is the recipe.

3.25 lbs of beaver
1.17 lbs of fatty lamb

1.8% salt
0.4% black pepper - fresh ground
0.7% fresh minced garlic
0.4% cayenne pepper
0.1% allspice
0.4% Hungarian Paprika
0.1% cumin
5 birds eye peppers crushed
1.4% olive oil

Spice mix

Mixed all spices together and rubbed it over the meat well then ground through quarter inch plate then mixed and stuffed in sheep casings

Mince after grinding and mixing.

Stuffed in sheep casings

Grilled

Served with hasselback potato gratin, bigos w/ canned tomatoes and applesauce then to sweeten things and dampen any heat I made caramelized onions and peppers.

Pretty decent meal I thought.

Post by **Bob K** » Mon Sep 26, 2016 00:47

Dang that looks good Butternean! I am going to try that meat combo with Rudys Gyro meat recipe mayde throw in some backfat.

http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.php?t=6627

Post by **Butterbean** » Mon Sep 26, 2016 00:55

Its a good combo. I added some homemade applesauce and some maple syrup to the Bigos and the apple sauce had cinnamon in it and these two really put the Bigos over the top. Not as sweet as the caramelized onion/pepper mix but about half as sweet. Really gave a good array of flavors.

MatterOne · Post by **MatterOne** » Mon Sep 26, 2016 02:54

Great looking dinner!

I've never had beaver meat. Do you trap them yourself?

Post by **Butterbean** » Mon Sep 26, 2016 03:42

I do trap them out of necessity. They are a pest and cause major problems here. I dislike them with a passion but hate to kill anything and not use it. Thankfully I learned the meat is outstanding. If you ate some and didn't know what it was you'd think it was beef only its more tender than beef.

Many people, including my wife, will turn their noses up at it but I cooked some for her and asked her what she thought of this year's calf. She had two helpings and praised it saying it was the best calf we've raised to date. Said the flavor was terrific and it was so tender. Then I told her the truth and she wouldn't eat another bite. Go figure.

MatterOne · Post by **MatterOne** » Tue Sep 27, 2016 00:32

Butterbean wrote:They are a pest and cause major problems here. I dislike them with a passion....

Thankfully I learned the meat is outstanding.

Mother Nature made them tasty for a good reason!

Post by **Butterbean** » Tue Sep 27, 2016 01:09

When life give you lemons ....

LOUSANTELLO · Post by **LOUSANTELLO** » Tue Sep 27, 2016 12:44

But, when life gives you beavers, my first thought was not makin' sausage. LOL

Bubba · Post by **Bubba** » Tue Sep 27, 2016 21:58

First time hearing of Beaver meat also for me, and sounds very interesting.

Butterbean that Beaver Merguez looks very good!

K98 AL · Post by **K98 AL** » Wed Sep 28, 2016 13:29

That sounds delicious! I have some pesky beavers that like to cut down trees on our hunting property. Might have to give this a try if deer and hogs don't show up.

Post by **Butterbean** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 11:44

K98 AL wrote:That sounds delicious! I have some pesky beavers that like to cut down trees on our hunting property. Might have to give this a try if deer and hogs don't show up.

One word of caution. Cut the castor and oil glands out first and be careful not to cut into them or the oil from these glands will taint the meat. Its very simple just be careful when doing it then wash you hands good after removing them

Post by **redzed** » Sat Oct 01, 2016 13:01

BB you've done it again! I really did not know that beaver was that good and that it could be mistaken for beef! BigGuy posted an account about preparing a cooked salami with beaver a little while ago, but somehow I never thought about actually trying it. But now I gotta go for it!

http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.ph ... ight=beave

I have a nephew that traps beaver and will ask him to save me some meat. Just have to provide him with some butchering instructions since we live a great distance apart. Thanks for the inspiration!

Post by **Butterbean** » Sat Oct 01, 2016 17:58

I think you'll be well pleased with the flavor of the beaver and how it tastes so much like high quality beef. The key is to be extremely careful removing the castor and oil sacs. I can't stress this enough. Your nephew will know what these are since they are valuable and are usually sold and used in perfume, medicine and as a food additive in things like soda and Bäverhojt schnapps. You might find this article amusing as well as informative as it echoes my warnings of careful extraction of these glands. A little goes a long way.

http://dolly.jorgensenweb.net/nordicnature/?p=1015

I also found the most tender cuts are from the loin and surprisingly the hind leg meat. Front quarter is a little tougher but no more than regular choice beef. The tail is surprisingly nothing but fat which can be used if the meat needs additional fat. Native indians relished the tail as it was used in making pemmican. Grilled it tastes just like beef fat.