I happened to find this very entertaining Extension Publication in a box: Good Eating from Woods and Fields. It’s a 1960 reprint of an earlier pamphlet, and what a cultural artifact it is!
I couldn’t decide which of the photos to put here, and so went with my Beavis and Butthead instinct: Roast Beaver.
The pamphlet opens with instructions on how to please ‘the housewife” and also contains historic info on game hunting. Except… they sort of forgot to mention all the people that lived here and hunted for centuries before the Europeans with guns showed up. Whoops!
There are also recipes for rabbit, squirrel, woodchuck, and muskrat.
November 11, 2009 at 1:31 am
I could make a comment about nothing being better than eating a hot beaver – but I won’t!
November 11, 2009 at 6:43 am
A book that tells you how to please the housewife that encourages the eating of beaver? This should be a best-seller!
November 11, 2009 at 6:58 am
Also: totally stealing this. In fact, I was going to go to bed until I saw this.
November 11, 2009 at 8:00 am
[...] the spirit of these fine organizations and countries comes a post from Bug Girl on her serendipitous discovery of a tome of wisdom devoted, at least in substantial part, to instructions on pleasing one’s wife with wild games [...]
November 11, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Oh my… this is too rad.
November 11, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Nothing better than fried beaver with bacon! Should be featured on Good Eats.
November 11, 2009 at 11:52 pm
I believe the song muskrat love was taken from this book. But they changed it around a bit. It was originally muskrat loaf.
November 12, 2009 at 7:55 pm
Hey, wait a minute. I went to Oregon State University. We don’t treat our Beavers this way!
November 12, 2009 at 10:17 pm
Eric, PLEASE don’t give me setups like that! It’s too easy!
The temptation to make an inappropriate remark to a fellow entomologist is difficult to resist…..
November 20, 2009 at 10:10 am
That is a rare find. My fist husband was a hunter and so I cooked squirrel, rabbit, and lots of deer but beaver or woodchuck/ground hog (not to mention possum) were not considered.
November 21, 2009 at 11:43 am
when I was a grad student, we occasionally had squirrel stew. But…Muskrat??? NO.