Here is a wonderful food: muskrat. By the way, in English muskrat is muskrat, and folk etymology understands it as a “musk rat,” especially since it has musk glands (now we will cook it, and they will have to be removed). In fact, the name is believed to come from the word mòskwas (in the language of the Abenaki Indian tribe.)
Mòskwas - how much in this sound merged for the Russian heart, how much echoed in it.
So. Remove the skin and remove fat from the back and front legs. Remove musk glands from the abdomen and groin. Keep in boiling water for 45 minutes, without bringing the water to a boil (this process is called poaching, I couldn’t find a translation). Remove, dry, chop, wrap in ribbons of bacon (well, you can skip this stage, since the bacon is now covered in a copper basin), add a glass of weak broth, chopped onion, bay leaf (Is Abkhazia ours? Am I not confusing?), three cloves ( Didn’t we quarrel with Thailand?) and half a teaspoon of thyme.
Close the lid and place in the casserole dish over low heat until cooked.
That's all, fools, why are you alarmed? Serve with celery béchamel sauce.
And by the way! Import of muskrat into New Zealand prohibited! It's not easy there either. New Zealanders walk around angry and dejected.
Or a porcupine. Bunnies, who would refuse a delicious porcupine? I think Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev himself would be happy to do so, after work, tied with a linen Kremlin napkin, a silver knife and fork, and a glass of good Massandra!.. And most importantly, businesslike: hang him on hooks by his hind legs, rip skin with needles, again remove the glands that are on the back and between the hind legs, and let it hang in a cool, dry place for 48 hours. Afterwards, soak it overnight in salted water, and boil this water in the morning, what’s easier. Boil, dry, and then proceed in exactly the same way as the muskrat. But without cloves. Yes, it’s even better without cloves!
But you will have to tinker with the possum. There is nothing to be said here. You must catch the opossum and feed it milk and grain for 10 days before killing it. Gut it, but do not peel the skin yet. Place the opossum in boiling water and keep checking by tugging on the fur: is it already coming off or not? When yes, then take it out of the boiling water and rip off all its hair, and then boil it in three waters and bake it for your health, like pork. It is recommended to serve possum with turnip tops. This is right. It's even some kind of staples.
Today I won’t tell you how to cook beaver tail on coals; this knowledge will be useful to us when we go to live in the forests. But experts praise it!
And at the end - a picture of how to skin a squirrel. Be sure to wear gloves, as the squirrel may have tularemia.
For performance this recipe we need at least the meat of a couple of muskrats, which has been hanging out in the refrigerator since the fall. A small preface: I have been cooking water hare for a long time, at least 5-6 seasons, but mainly in the field, that is, while hunting. During this time, I went through different stages of cooking and settled on the fact that the muskrat has the most delicious meat, so it needs to be separated from everything else and cooked just that. One muskrat produces approximately 200-250 grams of excellent meat. I had some meat from a couple of muskrats left over from my last trip to the lakes, so today I decided to cook a water hare at home.
To do this, we take the meat out of the freezer and soak it in water for almost a day, so that the blood drains and the inherent smell (or taste) of the muskrat disappears. I don’t know how to explain this correctly, but anyone who has tried it will understand me. So, after soaking the meat, salt it and cover it with a mixture of spices, which includes dried red sweet pepper, tomato, cumin, dill, parsley, dried garlic, cilantro, etc.
After mixing all this, roll each piece of meat in flour and fry it in a hot frying pan in vegetable oil. 
Until the meat turns golden brown, 
after which we transfer it to a cast-iron frying pan, add vegetables there in layers, namely carrots and onions, add water, unforgettable, salt, and leave to simmer for about 50 minutes over low heat. 
To add piquancy and improve the taste of the meat, we add about 70-100 ml of semi-sweet red Spanish wine to our roast. 
About 10-15 minutes before the end of cooking, add the sweet peas and bay leaf. 
At the same time, we boil the potatoes and make mashed potatoes. We set the table, take out drinks and voila, our water hare is ready and takes its place at this celebration of life (on the plate). 
By the way, it turned out much tastier than in the field (even my wife and her friend ate it). Almost indistinguishable from a land hare. By the way, there was something to compare with since I was preparing it at the same time. Bon appetit everyone!
I would like to say right away:
- Nutria, this is not a rat! Nutria is a relative of the porcupine. Here's a muskrat - a rat! More precisely - a musk rat!
Just don’t treat these “rats” with prejudice. Rat is different from rat! After all, people eat such disgusting things as rabbit and hare meat? They're eating!
And nutria and muskrat are much tastier! IN North America The muskrat is even called the "water rabbit." And from a culinary point of view, the muskrat is very popular there.
Nutria has absolutely fat-free, soft, tender and juicy meat without any unpleasant odors. And it contains absolutely no cholesterol. Truly a dietary product!
Muskrat's meat is fattier than nutria's, although it is tougher, but just as juicy, and also contains no cholesterol.
The only problem is that not everyone knows how to cook them!
So let's get started!
Cooking nutria.
Cooking nutria is very simple. There are many ways and recipes for its preparation. Probably the same as chicken.
I personally prefer stewed nutria.
First we prepare the carcass.
The head, tail and tips of the paws are removed from the carcass. All this has no culinary value. We cut the carcass into portions, rinse well and marinate for 5-6 hours either in marinade (1), or in garlic sauce (2), or in kvass grounds (3).
There are no special methods or recommendations for preparing stewed nutria. Can be prepared like “Chicken Tabaka” by frying in a special frying pan(4). I prefer stewed nutria. I extinguish it in two ways:
- in sour cream - I make a mixture of 1 glass of refined sunflower oil. 1 cup homemade sour cream, 1 tablespoon of ground tammerik and 3 glasses of water; I stew nutria in this mixture;
- in kvass - in 1 liter of okroshka kvass (5) I stir 4 tablespoons with the top of “Russian Mustard”, add 1 tablespoon with the top of ground tammerik, 1 tablespoon with the top of crushed garlic; I stew nutria in this mixture.
Cooking muskrat.
I usually cook muskrat according to the same recipe as cat meat(6):
1. Preliminary preparation of the muskrat for culinary processing.
The preparation of muskrat begins with freeing the carcass from the interior and subcutaneous fat. Muskrat fat has no culinary value. Although, this is a matter of taste. Some people also like it “with lard”. All the fat of a muskrat is deposited in the subcutaneous and internal layers. It comes off easily and without a trace. It must be removed along with the film. To make it easier to remove fat, you can first rub the carcass with coarse rock salt and leave it for a couple of hours. After removing fat and fat film, rinse the carcass well in running water.
After removing the fat, the muskrat carcass needs to be beaten and marinated.
To beat, place the carcass on a large and thick (preferably oak) cutting board with the back side up. Beating the carcass with a wooden hammer along the back, we spread it on the cutting board. In this spread-out form, the carcass will be marinated and stewed.
2. Marinating muskrat.
To prepare the marinade, for every 1 kilogram of net weight of the cat carcass, take 100 milliliters of boiled, cooled water; 50 milliliters of unrefined sunflower oil; 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice; 100 grams of freshly crushed garlic; half a coffee spoon without the top of ground ginger and ground nutmeg; a quarter of a coffee spoon without the top of bay leaf ground into powder; five dry clove buds and three black, white and pink peppercorns, ground into powder. Salt - to taste. The mixture is well beaten in a blender into a homogeneous mass. The marinade is ready.
Take a metal enameled baking sheet, lay out the entire surface of the baking sheet with thinly sliced rings onions(white or yellow; purple or red onions should not be translated). Place the muskrat carcass on the onion with the back side up and pour in the marinade. Cover the top of the carcass with a smaller baking sheet. But such that it would completely cover the entire carcass. We put oppression on top: a couple of bricks. You need to marinate the carcass for as many hours as the kilogram of net weight in the carcass, plus one hour.
3. Final culinary processing of muskrat meat.
As soon as the muskrat is thoroughly marinated, we release the carcass from under oppression. Remove the onion and the marinade remaining in the pan. Cover the surface of the baking sheet with cabbage leaves (you should not experiment with grape leaves - this will not improve the taste). Fill the surface of the cabbage leaves with about a centimeter layer of 10% cream. Place the muskrat carcass on the cabbage, back up. Pour a centimeter layer of 10% cream on top. On top we completely cover the entire surface of the carcass with cabbage leaves. Cover everything on top with a smaller baking sheet. Place pressure on a baking sheet and into the oven.
The muskrat is stewed, depending on its weight, for one and a half to two hours at a temperature of 110-120 degrees.
It is served both hot and cold. Before serving, divide into portions. Any side dish. Any sauce.
Bon appetit!
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1 - See article "Garlic sauce"
2 - See the article “Special marinade for game”.
3 - See the article "Family recipe for kvass"
4 - This frying pan has a lid that is pressed to the frying pan with a screw clamp.
5 - See the article "Family recipe for kvass", sections 1 and 2.
6 - See the article “Cat Dishes”.
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They say muskrats have tasty meat. How to cook it correctly? and got the best answer
Answer from Marina Marina[guru]
For most people, conservatism is characteristic in general, and food conservatism in particular. And that's probably right. Previously people did not have the knowledge to assess the harm, danger or, conversely, the usefulness of a particular product. Therefore, they were based on customs, sometimes prejudices, which were then consolidated in various cults. Thus, in the old days, faithful Cossacks in the Kuban did not eat crayfish, and the Siberian Cossacks did not eat hares. Meanwhile, now everyone already eats them and even considers them a delicacy.
It is likely that many objects that are not yet traditional will also take their place in the culinary registry. This could be a muskrat, for example. This herbivorous (mostly) animal has long been acclimatized and is now widespread in our country. Not so long ago, it was subjected to severe commercial pressure due to the demand for their skins, when it was fashionable to wear hats with ear flaps made from this fur. The fashion has long passed, it has become economically unprofitable to extract the skins, but the animal has not gone away and has even multiplied quite well in its characteristic lakes, ponds, and wetlands.
Muskrat meat is soft, tender, and properly cooked, reminiscent of chicken or rabbit. There is nothing complicated or tricky in its preparation; everything that has been written and is being written on this site in relation to beaver meat can easily be attributed to muskrat, with the caveats that the animal is much smaller, the meat is more tender and it cooks easier and faster.
Reply from Ioman Samorukov[guru]
Just like rat meat, they are related...
Reply from Destino[guru]
Yes, the meat of all rats is delicious! And you can cook it in different ways, even put it on a barbecue!
Reply from Maria[guru]
Muskrat meat - for those who understand For most people, conservatism is characteristic in general, and food conservatism in particular. And that's probably right. Previously, people did not have the knowledge to assess the harm, danger, or, conversely, the usefulness of a particular product. Therefore, they were based on customs, sometimes prejudices, which were then consolidated in various cults. Thus, in the old days, faithful Cossacks in the Kuban did not eat crayfish, and the Siberian Cossacks did not eat hares. Meanwhile, now everyone already eats them and even considers them a gourmet food. Probably, many objects that are not yet traditional will also take their place in the culinary registry. This could be a muskrat, for example. This herbivorous (mostly) animal has long been acclimatized and is now widespread in our country. Not so long ago, it was subjected to severe commercial pressure due to the demand for their skins, when it was fashionable to wear hats with ear flaps made from this fur. The fashion has long passed, it has become economically unprofitable to obtain skins, but the animal has not gone away and has even multiplied quite well in its characteristic lakes, ponds, and wetlands. Muskrat meat is soft, tender, and properly cooked, reminiscent of chicken or rabbit meat. There is nothing complicated or tricky in its preparation; everything that has been and is being written on this site in relation to beaver meat can easily be attributed to muskrat, with the caveats that the animal is much smaller, the meat is more tender and is cooked easier and faster. Here, in fact , and that's it. Feel free to try.
