Can you eat beaver? Not only can you eat it, but you will love eating it. Beaver is a very rich and flavorful meat. I’ve been eating beaver since I was a young teen. My Uncle started a wild meat dinner tradition during the holidays for all of the hunter-gatherers in our family and beaver was always a hit.
My favorite way to eat beaver is to cook it in the crock pot with bbq sauce and making sandwiches with hearty bread.
What does beaver taste like
If I had to describe the taste of beaver, I’d say it has a very mild game taste and close to veal, some would say pork. You’d think the dark red meat would taste more like beef, but that’s not the case. It’s flavorful and to some may be an acquired taste. The meat is also very earthy because beavers are herbivores. They mostly feast on leaves, plants and grasses.
How to eat beaver
Beaver meat is best cooked slowly in a braising liquid or stewed. The hind quarters (hams) and backstrap make some of the best pot roast you’ll ever eat. Treat it like you would a beef roast for beef stew or pot roast.
Brown all sides of the meat and put in a crock pot with veggies and chicken stock or leave the beaver meat in the pan and make a gravy after browning. Stew the beaver with onions, garlic and celery.
Beaver meat can also be grounded up into sausage and burgers. I’ve eaten some Cajun dishes like jambalaya and gumbo with beaver sausage. For the burgers, grind the beaver meat with chuck or pork shoulder and make burgers or use the grounded meat in chili, tacos, soups or casseroles like lasagna.
I would imagine that beaver lasagna or even spaghetti would be very delicious. Any wild game or exotic meat can be used like we do with pork, beef and chicken.