Beaver Cheek Tacos
Rachel and I don’t go out to eat much, but we do have one solid favorite restaurant- a tiny little taco joint tucked away in a nondescript strip mall just outside of town. It’s a place you wouldn’t know was there unless you were looking for it, even then, you might miss it.
This place, Taqueria Flavio, serves up beef cheek tacos on homemade tortillas that are the best either of us has ever had, anywhere. The tortillas are perfect- soft but chewy- and the tacos are simply garnished, just raw onion, cilantro, and hot sauce. It’s the kind of place where the hot sauce comes in tied-off ziploc baggies and there isn’t a real menu posted anywhere. I recommend it without reservation to anyone who comes to, or passes through, Fredericksburg, and I’d happily pay double or triple the (low) prices they charge for food this good.
We decided that for our first foray into beaver cheeks, it would be appropriate to emulate our favorite tacos. This beaver cheek recipe is full of spices, but doesn’t overwhelm the flavor of the meat itself. You still get that slight earthiness and deep richness from the beaver meat, but you also get a bit of heat from the peppers and smokey notes from the cumin.
Cheek meat is dense, full of connective tissue, and rich in flavor, much like shanks. It takes a bit of effort and time to make them tender, but once the chewy stuff breaks down, you are rewarded with arguably one of the most flavorful cuts off of any mammal. Unlike beef cheeks, which are pretty big, beaver cheeks are small. You need quite a few of them to make enough of any dish for two people. We’ve been stashing away beaver cheeks since last season, and we finally felt that we had enough for a few meals.
We seared and braised the cheeks in stock with a puree of toasted dried peppers, onion, garlic, and spices. They turned out amazing- not the same as the tacos from Flavio’s, but they had the same spirit. Tender, flavorful meat, with a high concentration of that sticky richness that you only get from tough cuts.
The one major difference between the beef and beaver cheeks is the lack of fat in the beaver cheeks. We decided to toss the shredded meat in some duck fat to add some richness, which worked wonderfully. We topped these tacos off with some diced onion and cilantro and promptly devoured them.
Getting enough cheeks from any game animal to make a meal will take some time. Like tongues, we recommend stashing them in the freezer over the course of the season until you have enough to make a big portion of something. They’re a bit of a pain to cut from the skull, but they’re definitely worth it. If you’re not trapping beaver, you could also start saving your deer cheeks- this recipe would work perfectly with them.
Note- there is a layer of silver skin on the skin side of the cheeks that looks like you should trim it off. Don’t do that- leave it on, the braise will tenderize it, and as it cooks down, it will add a really nice richness to the broth.
Beaver Cheek Taco Recipe
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook time: 3 hours
Ingredients:
1-1.5 pounds of beaver cheeks (or any mammal cheeks)
2 guajillo peppers, stems and seeds removed
2 pasilla peppers, stems and seeds removed
4 cloves garlic
1 small yellow onion
1 tsp oregano, dried
1 tsp cumin
2 cups water
2 bay leaves
2 cups stock
2 tbsp duck fat or pork lard
For the tacos:
Tortillas
Cilantro
Diced onion
Hot sauce
Method:
Preheat oven to 350F.
Lightly toast dried peppers over medium high heat. Remove from heat and add 2 cups of water to the hot pan. Cover with lid and allow peppers to rehydrate for 10-20 minutes.
Combine peppers, pepper water, garlic, onion, oregano, and cumin in a blender. Blend until semi smooth.
Season cheeks with salt and pepper. In a dutch oven, sear both sides over high heat until browned, about 1 minute per side. Add stock, bay leaves and pepper puree. Cover with lid and place in center rack of oven.
Cook for 2-3 hours until fork tender.
Using a slotted spoon, remove cheeks from braising liquid and shred with a fork or tongs. Over medium heat, reduce braise liquid until slightly thick.
Add duck fat and some of the reduced braise liquid to the shredded cheeks. Toss to coat. Serve over warm tortillas with diced onion, cilantro and hot sauce.
