Beaver Chorizo

Beavers have a lot working against them in the food branding department. To start with, they’re technically rodents, and plenty of people will have a hard time getting over the mere idea of eating a rodent. Secondly, some people who trap beavers do it as a measure to prevent property damage, and when you view an animal as a “pest” that you are trying to exterminate, it’s hard to get behind valuing the meat. Other trappers are focused only on pelts, and may not check their trap line every day. The meat can begin to spoil quite quickly, and so they never consider trying it. Finally, a whole lot of people are fond of beavers, and for good reason- they’re cute, pretty sociable, and do a whole lot of good for wildlife habitat.

So why bother with beaver meat?
To begin with, beaver meat is absolutely delicious. We can’t say enough about it, honestly. The meat is garnet red and lean, with a wonderful flavor that lands somewhere between bison, elk and whitetail. They eat a clean, vegetarian diet, and we haven’t had one yet that we’d describe as gamy or marshy. The backstraps are great grilled up medium rare, and the legs and tail muscle braise down beautifully into a beefy stew. The fat is great too- rendered down, it reminds us of pork lard, and we’ve used it in all sorts of culinary applications.

100% beaver meat, trimmed, cubed
25% pork fat, cubed
2.5% sea salt
0.3% instacure #2
0.5% dextrose
0.7% ground paprika
0.7% ancho chili
0.2% ground cayenne
1.6% garlic, minced
bactoferm 52 (follow instructions on culture)

Weigh the beaver meat you are planning on using. Calculate the weight of the remaining ingredients based on the weight of the beaver meat.

Combine meat, salt, instacure #2, dextrose, paprika, ancho, cayenne and garlic. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.

Grind fat separately through a medium die, then grind the meat & spice mixture through a fine die.

Using a stand mixer or wooden spoon, mix the fat with the meat mixture. Add in wine and mix. Add the bactoferm and water mixture. Mix until slightly tacky, about 1-2 minutes.

Stuff into beef middles, tie into 10” links, and prick with a sterile needle or sausage pricker. Weigh and record the starting weight of each set of links. Incubate for about 12-18 hours in a warm room, then hang in the cure chamber for 21-40 days, or until 30-35% weight loss is achieved.