Beaver
The tail is a separate feast. Skin the tail by scalding it a few minutes with boiling water, or by heating it over the coals, after which the skin can be pulled off easily. Lay tail in a marinade several hours (see recipe for Marinade), parboil in acidulated water (1 tablespoon vinegar to the quart), drain and dry it; roll in beaten egg and then in crumbs and cook over rather slow grill, or before the fire, pouring a little melted butter over it from time to time.
Cut up the rest of the animal and pot roast, or fry like Maryland chicken-long slow cooking until tender. Or leave it whole and roast it.
A camp-butchery instruction as much as a recipe, written for cooks who expected to handle the whole animal. The hinge is the tail: it is almost entirely fat and connective tissue, so the scalding, marinating and parboiling are not fussiness but the only way to make it edible.
- Glands firstBefore any of this, the castor and oil glands near the vent are cut away without nicking them, and the carcass kept off them. Musky or turpentine off-flavours in beaver are commonly blamed on contamination at this stage.
- Skinning the tailThe scaly hide comes away in one piece after two or three minutes in boiling water, or after being held over coals until it blisters. Work while it is hot; once it cools the skin grips again.
- Acidulated waterOne tablespoon vinegar to the quart is a mild wash rather than a pickle. The recipe gives no time; 20 to 30 minutes will parboil a tail from an adult animal, until a skewer goes in with slight resistance.
- "Rather slow grill"Aim for a moderate, indirect heat with the coals raked to the side. The crumb coating and the rendering fat will both scorch over a direct bed, and the tail needs a good 20 to 30 minutes to heat through.
- DonenessBeaver is wild rodent meat and should be taken to 160 to 165F throughout, checked at the thickest part of the shoulder or haunch. Do not serve it pink.
- "Fry like Maryland chicken"That means flour-dredged pieces browned in fat, then covered and cooked gently in a little liquid until tender, often finished with cream gravy. On beaver this is a genuine braise: reckon two hours or more for the legs.
- Whole roastA dressed beaver runs roughly 15 to 30 lb, and only a small young animal is worth roasting whole. Keep the heat moderate, cover it for most of the time, and drain the fat off two or three times or the meat sits in grease.
- YieldThe tail is a single rich portion, or two small ones. How far the rest goes depends entirely on the size of the animal.