Ground beaver for pepperettes?

[Fenelon]

Wondering if anyone has tried using ground beaver for making snack sticks/pepperettes? I think I'm going to try making a small 4 pound batch to see how they turn out. The meat is so lean I'm going to add maybe 25% pork fat to it. I've got a box of hi Mountain seasonings Jerky Cure Seasoning from Peavey. Pepperoni blend. Cost about $17 and does 15lbs meat. I'll stuff 19mm LEM collagen casings then smoke the lot in my electric Bradley smoker. I'll report back on how they turn out.

[Birdbuff]

Sounds interesting. I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.

[dean.f]

Curious if you've eaten the meat otherwise? I've heard (or read) the legs and tail are good.

[gbk]

Way back,when Nutria-Brazilian cousin(or so) of the beaver made it to Europe ,for fur farming-meat was available from nutria farmers at reasonable price.
I bought one whole nutria.It was skinned and gutted. Made stew and some fried meat.
It was delicious.

I do not see much difference between the beaver and the nutria meat.
However I would NOT make anything from it, to consume the meat raw(like smoked sausage or pepperette)
Just to be sure........

[Fenelon]

Gave the beaver a try and I think I like them better than the venison! I think I'm going to try mild Italian beaver sausage next. Here's the steps I followed for the beaver peperoni:
Set trap and catch beaver
Save the castors when you pelt them as they are worth $137.50 /pound.
Remove back hams, front shoulders, and loin strips
Grind your fat then grind your beaver meat. Mix the two together and do two passes through grinder with coarse plate
Measure your cure and spices. Add to meat and hand mix for 5 mins while adding 1/4 cup of cold water per pound of meat
Pack meat into sausage stuffer. I used 19mm LEM collagen casings and 3/8" stuffer tip
Pack your links, Use thread to tie off each link
Turn on smoker and pre-warm.
I smoked with hard maple pucks for about two hours with smoker set at 260 degrees. I had thermometer inside oven to monitor actual temperature. It was 0 degrees outside the day I smoked. I considered product done when inside meat temp was 175 degrees when I checked a link with a digital meat thermometer.
OMG they turned out really good.
beaver on ice.jpg
beaver meat.jpg
castor.jpg
ingreds.jpg
fat.jpg

[Fenelon]

spice.jpgground beaver.jpg
smoker.jpgstuffer.jpg
links.jpg

[Fenelon]

Notes from making this batch:
Hi Mountain jerky peperoni mix is way too salty for my liking. The spice mix is nice. You end up with an extremely spicy peperoni that is very salty (almost inedible imo) if you follow their mix instructions. I'm not a fan of the plastic chemical bleach smell of the cure either so I really reduced the ratios of mix. Hi Mountain instructions are 7 tsp of cure and 8 tsp spice for 3.5 pounds of meat. I reduced to 3 tsp cure and 4.5 tsp of spice. I'm not worried about botulism with reducing the amount of nitrate cure as I'm ensuring that the meat is cooked to 175 (instructions say 165) degrees and I'm freezing any sticks I make if they aren't eaten from the fridge within five days. Next batch I make will use just salt and no cure. I can do without the nitrates. I figured out that 5% by weight of pork fat is just about perfect. Not too fatty and keeps the stick moist and not dried out.
I'm going to look up peperoni spice recipes and make my own spice. Will be cheaper than buying a $17 packet where I don't even use the salt/cure packet.
Not a big fan of the LEM 19mm collagen casings. They are expensive. I find them way too thick and you're reluctant to eat them. Next batch I do will be with cheaper natural sheep casings from the local butcher.
A final word to the boys - don't make and eat a batch of these if you don't have a ring on your finger! You'll lose your fiance and any girl you're dating is going to drop you like a bomb when she smells what falls out of you about two hours after consuming! I can hardly wait to pig a batch of these when my brother comes up to fish in my ice hut this winter!

[dean.f]

They look amazing! Glad they turned out. Nice to use meat that may be discarded otherwise.

I've found the same problem with any of the pre made jerky spices I've bought, I usually just find different recipes on line and mix my own spice or marinade. I've never done pepperettes but I intend to try it over the winter.

[sabmgb]

looks good, and I'm sure beaver makes better pepperttes then deer. I like goose better then deer as well.

[Bo D]

Better tasting too getting your beaver this time of year before they get onto their feed pile. Any later in the season and the taste won't be as nice...