Thanks to all of you who sent beaver recipes in response to my inquiry. Several of you asked for a report on the results. We cooked the beaver for a dinner last Saturday. I had soaked it in milk (reconstituted non-fat dry) then froze it until I was ready to cook. I thawed it, sprinkled it with onion soup mix and baked it for 4 hours. It was not done so I quickly fixed some chicken for lunch and continued cooking. After 7 hours it was done to falling off the bone, and delicious. We all ate it and guests especially seemed to enjoy it. We're having the left overs today in sandwiches with barbeque sauce. Points to consider: The fat is difficult to remove because it is soft and oily and all over the animal. Do your best, tho because it is oily. Allow more time for cooking than you would think would be necessary. Thanks again everyone. The thread responses alone made this fun!

-- Rosalie (Dee) in IN (deatline@globalsite.net), December 18, 2001

Answers

HOW LONG DID YOU SOAK IT IN MILK BEFORE FREEZING?

-- loretta in iowa park,tx (johnray@wf.net), December 18, 2001.

I soaked it about 24 hours. The milk will, supposedly, kill the "gamey" flavor. Then, I drained but did not rinse it, and froze it because we wanted it later. I would have just cooked it otherwise and I just guessed at the soaking time. I neglected to mention that our son put it in salt water as soon as he cleaned it and it was in that overnight before I worked at removing further fat and then putting it into the milk---all of this in a cold place.

-- Dee (deatline@globalsite.net), December 18, 2001.