Got a game hunter in the family and not sure how to cook the meat he or she brings home? Leave it to Kate Krukowski Gooding to teach you 50 Ways to Eat a Beaver in her book of the same name. In this episode, she’ll teach us how to acquire game meats, how to handle them before cooking, and which other meats make a good substitute. Plus, we’ll discuss her other books on cooking wild meat and her appearance on Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern.
Kate is a self-trained chef and has worked in every capacity of the restaurant business. Kate holds three degrees and has started five companies that include an Import/Export Business, Cellular Phones, International Championship of A cappella, a non-profit teaching Maine youth how to start and run business as well as her cookbook publishing company.
In addition to Black Fly Stew: Wild Maine Recipes, Simple Gourmet Lamb with Side Dishes and Wine Pairings, 50 Ways to Eat a Beaver and Free-Range Fish & Lobster, Kate writes specialty cookbooks for private companies. You can find Kate at Black Fly Stew and Facebook.
Highlights from today’s episode:
10:20 ~ How does beaver compare to neutral-tasting meats such as beef, pork, or chicken? Can beaver be substituted by not only these meats, but more “gamey” meats like goat or kangaroo?
17:09 ~ When and why Kate began writing wild game cookbooks.
23:22 ~ Health benefits people can enjoy with wild meats, and precautions that may need to be taken into consideration.
38:52 ~ How we went from eating wild meats to exclusively eating what we call farm animals.
35:47 ~ How flavors vary in wild meat from one season to the next.
47:52 ~ What it was like being on Bizarre foods with Andrew Zimmern.
55:08 ~ How to source beaver.
