Walrus anyone?

[Dand]

Thought folks might find this interesting.  

Every fall, a few western Bristol Bay area villages are allowed to hunt walrus on the Round Island Sanctuary.  Its all highly regulated and the animals are shared among all who want some meat and blubber.  This fall the designated hunters from Dillingham were successful and brought home 3 animals.

I heard about the success on the radio so grabbed my boys ( 4 and 7) right after school and headed to the harbor.  Since both boys have a Cup'ik / Yup'ik background I figured they should have an opportunity to participate in a traditional event- plus the learning experience of seeing the whole process. We were allowed to carve off a hunk of meat from the front shoulded as well as a chunk of skin and blubber.

It had been a long time since I ate any walrus meat and I remembered it as being good but a bit chewy.  I browned the meat then boiled it for a couple hours with bacon and ketchup (as suggested in "Cooking Alaskan").  It turned out pretty good and less chewy than I remembered.  The boys of course were very excited. I made clam chowder as a supplement/alternative.  The youngest looked at his bowl of soup and announced, "I don't like this soup. I want WALRUS!"  And he didn't eat much chowder, but ate a LOT of walrus.  My older boy  now wants me to take him walrus hunting.  I explained  I can't since I’m not Yup'ik/Cup'ik, but that he could go when he gets older.

Blubber was another thing.  We tried that the next day.  I boiled small pieces of skin and blubber in salted water for an hour or so.  The aroma was a bit strong (real strong says my wife).  When it went in the pot it was hard to tell the skin from the blubber by texture, other than the short fur on the skin.  When it came out the skin got very hard and was over an inch thick.  My oldest boy gave a hunk a good chew before finally declaring that he didn’t care for blubber much.  I had to plead out on sampling it – couple hours of the aroma was enough for me.  Interesting note:  While reading the cook book I learned that farther north, spare walrus hides used to be saved as emergency food.  Now that’s some very tough conditions and very tough people who can chew that.  No doubt a few more hours of boiling would eventually soften it but all the same . . . .

Well here’s a photo of my boys with the walrus. Hope it works I'm trying to follow the instructions.

[NONYA]

Great story,have you ever eaten seal?

[Daveinthebush]

Dand:  I really miss village life.  Seal hunting, whale hunting, berry picking, drying fish and such.  Good times and necessary skills out there.

We used to dip our steamed crab in seal oil.  Pretty rich stuff.  Keep those kids learning traditional values.  You just never know when you can apply them.

[Dand]

NONYA - Yeah I have had some seal but don't know what kind.  It too was a long time ago and I remember it was pretty oily and strong.

As a kid my mom used to trade cake mixes for seal liver to some bush friend of hers.  I recall REALLY liking the liver.  For some reason mom cooked game liver much better than beef liver that always ended up dry as a vibram sole. I much preferred her seal, moose, caribou, or sheep liver.  These days, I pass as I'm supposed to limit cholesterol.

I haven't done seal oil either.  Its pretty popular around here and you can buy it in quart  jars some times.  Given that I've developed a touchy stomach this is on item I'm not in a rush to try. I hear it takes a while for your system to adjust to it.  The king crab dip sounds interesting.  I'd have to try that if I had the chance - at least a little.

In the past I've had dried beluga (white whale) and dried caribou too.  It can be ok.  I have skipped the fermented stuff like stink [salmon] heads (real popular here) or seal flippers, moose nose etc. Partly its too risky.  Too often we have someone poisoned with botulism when they try to ferment stuff in plastic buckets instead of the old way in grass lined dirt pits.  Know one REALLY nice lady from our church who had a close call.  I guess she still suffers some effects.

One of the better traditional foods common around here is Agutuk - berries sugar and some sort of fat - Crisco, seal, caribou.  I had some of the best ever last spring in Newhalen.  That stuff had dried white fish in it along with blue berries and it was very good.

[379 Peterbilt]

Dand

I have nothing really to share or contribute to this thread, but just wanted to say thanks for sharing the story. The walrus hunting story was very interesting.

Where else but GBO!!!???!!!

Thanks!! :-)

[Sourdough]

It was great to let your kids experience that.

    Many years ago I was working on a Musk Ox project on Nunavak Island.  On the south side of the island a Walrus had washed ashore.  The locals pulled it above the high water mark and left it.  The next day they decided to butcher it and take it home.  The Vetranarian I was working with grabbed my arm and convinced me that we had business else where quick.  He told me if we stayed they would be offering me picies of the almost raw blubber and meat.  While their systems were able to handle it, that it would probably kill me, or at least make me want to die.     We spent the day walking back to Mekoryuk.

[Dand]

That vet friend may have known another thing.  Walrus can have trichinosis and eating under cooked meat can get you real sick.  Even the Natives aren't immune to that.  Its been quite a while but I remember a news item  where several folks from Kipnuk (I think) got real sick and had to be flown to Anchorage.  

So if one has some walrus make sure its cooked real well.  

I recently read a more thorough discussion of trichinosis on GB somewhere - Bear Hunting I think.  I believe the species of Trichina in walrus and northern animals is very resistent to freezing so freezing the meat for a while isn't good enough.  Cooking sufficiently long and hot is the best way.

[cattail]

Dand I am in Dillingham also and cooking that walrus skin is a  bit of an art form it is more the skin than the blubber that is eaten in most cases you gotta slow boil the stuff for 2-3 hours then let it cool to eat. We got ourselves some of those three walrus and will enjoy it through the next year.  We only get the skin no meat here but may need to exchange recipies as I have always wanted to learn how to cook the meat. Have you ever tried the ribs I hear they are great?

[Dand]

Well, a fellow local! Welcome.  No I didnt' take any ribs though they were available.  This is the first year I got down in time to get some meat that looked good.  I didn't take a lot as I wasn't sure how the family would like it and I wanted to be sure the folks who truly like it got all they needed.  

A few years ago when a couple animals were caught, the weather had delayed return from Round Is. and you could smell them as you drove into the boat harbor - I'm not up to that.

Blubber/skin, later some folks told me to cook it longer.  Since we only took a small amount, there was none left for a second try.

Pete Abraham of Togiak told me that the Walrus blubber was the least desireable of all and that bearded seal, and beluga was the best, "richest" is what he said.  

Drop me a PM if you want.

[Daveinthebush]

Cattail: Welcome to the forum. Pleasure to have another Alaskan join in on our site.

Please do not be afraid to contact me if you have any brown bears, moose or caribou harassing your home.  I am always ready to help someone out.

[cattail]

Dand,  Beluga is hard to beat in my opinion but seal is just hard for me not sure I ever tried bearded seal but we go through about a gallon of seal oil a year at our house .
DaveintheBush thanks for the welcome I'll keep the problem critter issue in mind but usually problems get elminated pretty quick  :-D We lived 6 years in valdez while my wife was going to school and a few yrs after that then headed home to Bristol Bay heck we maybe even have met been back out here since 97