The Muskrat capture season coincides with a unique culinary tradition in SOOMET County – WBOC TV 16

CRISFIELD, MD – the Muskrat capture season is a synonym for the Muskrat eating season for some people on the Delmavar Peninsula. In the County of SOOMOTET, this culinary heritage is deep.

Renee Mirs, the owner of the Chesapeake Bay barbecue in Krifiel, said it was flooded with calls to add the marsh food to her menu a few years ago.

“We had the public to ask why you don’t do a muscrat?” Mirs said.

Miers herself grew up, eating the delicacy on the east coast.

“My father was a guided man and we lived a lot out of the ground,” Mirs said. “It was not abnormal to have an array of bay or forest things.”

There are a number of ways to prepare musk meat, but the Mears family recipe involves a time -long process.

“When we get the rats, we have to give them two salt baths,” Mirs said. “Then we add our spices. We have a little sage, a little salt and pepper, we have flakes of red pepper.”

The meat is then cooked on the stove for hours. Miers said the texture is comparable to beef or pork and the aroma is similar to other meat from the game.

Brett Sanders said he wanted to take the opportunity to try Muscrat for the first time when he stopped at the restaurant during his lunch break on Thursday.

“Oh man, that’s good,” Sanders said after his first bite. “It’s like stewed meat that my mother made or like slow cooking meat.”

Carrie Sammis grew up on the east coast, but did not try Muscrat until she joined the annual New Year’s diving of the city city.

“Is my favorite meat? No,” Sams said. “But this is such a rich part of our local heritage, our local culture.”

Samis said she noticed the number of evenings of Muscat, declining over the years.

“I don’t see Muskrat dinners advertised as often as it was before, even ten years ago,” Sams said. “But people are working for such things.”

The Chesapeake Bay barbecue depletes its Muskrat from a local traiter.

Merland’s museum capture season usually passes in mid -March. However, state legislation allows the Ministry of Natural Resources to extend the season to seven days in case of bad weather conditions.