Can I Eat This: Beaver Meat and Tail
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- Опубліковано 20 чер 2019
- This episode of Can I Eat This explores a historically common staple in the diet of trappers: beaver meat and beaver tail. Although this meal is most commonly fried or slow-cooked in a roaster, the warm spring weather has inspired the Backwoods Boys to break out the BBQ for the first cook out of the year. So, Can I Eat This BBQ's beaver meat and beaver tail? Watch and find out!
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When i was a teenager, i did an exchange with a Dene family from the NWT. I spent time living traditionally in a fishing camp etc. They pulled a beaver from the river that had got stuck in the fishing nets and were very excited. They butchered it on the spot and immediately cooked the tail and offered some to me. I couldn't say no but, to be honest, it was not pleasant. They thought it was a rare treat though. It's interesting how we become conditioned to what we think "normal" is.
That's super cool! That would be such an amazing experience to live with the Dene in the NWT. I guess in a sustenance lifestyle, the fat from the tail would be very high in nutritional value--it tasted almost sweet to us, but it was the texture that we couldn't get over. Since our bodies are made to crave high-energy food for survival, I suspect the 'sweet' taste was from natural instincts telling us "hey, this is good for you! Eat it!". In modern society though, we've just gotten so used to eating processed sugars for that sweetness that the natural food sources seem unappetizing now. Unfortunately, 'normal' to us nowadays tends to also be unhealthy! Maybe we will have to start getting our sweets from beaver tail instead of sugar!
Beavertail was considered a real delicacy during the mountain man and fur trade era trappers and Old West outdoorsmen of many stripes. But I think this was primarily based on the appetites and physical conditions of those consuming it. For 300 years the peoples of European descent their staple foods were jerky and hardtack.... Jerky has very little fat in it animal fat tends to go rancid and get moldy relatively quickly. As some may not know, hardtack is a type of dense biscuit (British English) or cracker (American English) made from flour, water, and sometimes salt. Interestingly, it cantains no fats or oils of any kind fsince hardtack molds and goes bad quickly if it has oils in it whereas without oils and stored properly has been known to remain fully edible for 25 years. For over 300 years, explorers , traders and others not in cities or on farms depended on hardtack and jerky as their primary foods.. This was true for soldiers of the Napolonic Wars across Europe, likewise for American soldiers between the war for Independence through the Civil War. Poneers on wagontrains and cowboys working the cattle drives depended on hardtack as their main source of calories. Simply getting enough calories was a problem even for farmers and city dwellers, but especially so for all the other previously mentioned groups. Since animal fat is the most concentrated form of calories, very hungry prople often crave fats and oils. I once heard a lecture given by a climber who was a lone survivor of an expedition climbing Mt Everest. They were hit by extended storms early on, that left them stranded i n place, freezing to death, unable to go up or back down to safety. He confessed to getting into the food stores early on and stealing all the tins of lard. He believed the extra calories he got from the lard saved his life, giving his body fuel to stay warm and strength to endure while the other members, basically all died from fatigue and cold. When you're freezing to death and lacking calories to burn, he said pure lard tastes better than any other foods be they meats or sweets...
Hence the historic attraction for eating fatty beaver tails.
Omg I loved this...it was so interesting haha and the meat did look really good!!! You guys are awesome!
We're glad you enjoyed it! The meat really was surprisingly good! It is definitely worth trying.
Loved this. We loved beaver meat. We even mixed it with bear into sausage. As far as the tail, strips of it stay on your hook well and make great bait. I’ve even caught splake on it!
That's so cool! Weve never thought of using it in sausage but that would be really good! That's a great idea for using the tail; we will have to give that a shot next time we are fishing for pike for supper!
i am crossing beaver tail off my list to try to eat, thanks.
Not a bad idea haha. I wish I had crossed it off my list before I tried it!
That's the.best part.
I.love it.
The meat looked steamed. I think it might taste better seasoned with just salt, pepper garlic and a few herbs and grilled without the tin foil over a charcoal BBQ. Also a few potatoes and vegetables or salad would make a more complete meal.
Smoke the tail with some heavy spice and it is awesome.
That's a great idea! Maybe we'll have to give it another shot and try it that way!
Backwoods Boys I have done it here in Maine. It is mostly fat, but when you need the calories do it.
Beaver south of the Aspen or certain tree line are unedible. Beaver at cree lake or wollaston lake are different tasting and must be from a flowing creek. And eat the piece of meat from the tail to the back legs.
That would make sense! It's the same way with Jackfish we've found. The more northern lakes have much better-tasting jacks than the southern ones. This beaver was from the boreal forest, so definitely north, but not as far north as that! We will have to try one of those super-north beavers and see how it compares!