A select group of adventurous Montreal chefs will soon be free to use wild game to their beaver tail-loving hearts' content. Ten restaurants, including Toqué, Au Pied de Cochon, and Joe Beef, have been chosen to participate in a pilot program allowing restaurants to sell wild game to consumers (previously, the sale of meat from animals hunted or trapped in the wild was prohibited in Quebec). According to the Montreal Gazette, the "strictly supervised" new provision opens the chefs up to ingredients like wild deer, muskrat, squirrel, beaver and hare.
Martin Picard, chef at Au Pied de Cochon and the guy responsible for the above pictured "sushi," notes that he doesn't want to go bonkers with his newfound freedom: "I'm not queasy at all about using all parts of the animal, but I don't want to be sensationalistm either." The diners of Montreal will find out first hand in the Fall. In the meantime, for that squirrel sushi recipe, as well as recipes for beaver, wild hare, venison, and more, check out Picard's 2012 Sugar Shack cookbook.
· Go Wild, Quebec Restaurateurs Told [Gazette via Eater Montreal]
· All Montreal Coverage on Eater [-E-]