With all the problems folks are having with chicken killers, I thought I'd post something useful for those of you who will try anything at least once, and live on the "wild" side. lol ;) Now, I know that DG has a recipe category, but I wanted to post this here, for all my poultry friends. Please let me know if anyone is brave enough to give it a try! ~: > Enjoy! :-D
In my Southern Appalachian cookbook, "Smokehouse Ham, Spoon Bread, & Scuppernong Wine" by Joseph E. Dabney, a WONDERFUL book with recipes and lots of foodlore handed down from Scotland, England, Ireland, Germany, and the Cherokee Nation, it has recipes for raccoon and opossum! …Now before you "wrinkle your nose up at me", my dad told me that my Granny Murphy made the best opossum in all of Johnson County, Kentucky. He said the meat just melted in his mouth!
In the cookbook it says, "Southern frontiersman ate almost … any animal available to them. Opossum and raccoon were favorites from the beginning, the 'possum taking first place because, like a fall bear, he abounded in fat….
Records tell of a great feast on Christmas day, 1779, on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River on the tract that would become Louisville. Among the meats were venison and bear, wild turkey, rabbit, coon and even buffalo, accompanied by three kinds of corn bread, milk, butter, and even homemade cheese. The main attraction, however, was a very large possum, baked whole, and hanging by its tail from a piece of wood in the center of the table. While it lasted, the marsupial was the preferred meat of the feasters. ~~ Joe Gray Taylor, "Eating, Drinking and Visiting In The South"
If you buy your own copy of "Smokehouse Ham, Spoon Bread, & Scuppernong Wine", you will LOVE it! It is not all "wild animal" recipes, although it does have a recipe for "Deep-Fat-Fried Rattlesnake".
Nevertheless, there is huge variety of food recipes in it. If nothing else, it is fascinating reading!
You can find it on Amazon, at: http://www.amazon.com/Smokehouse-Spoon-Bread-Scuppernong-Wine/dp/1581820046/ref=sr_1_1/105-5911923-3574813?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180701518&sr=1-1
So, with that, here are the recipes for raccoon and possum:
RACCOON
Note: Raccoon meat is dark. The fat is strong flavored and some mountain cooks prefer to neutralize the gamy taste a bit by marinating the meat in vinegar or milk. And generally mountain people parboil the meat before roasting.
#### Buck Snort Mountain Raccoon Roast ####
Leave a 1/3-inch layer of fat on raccoon. Cover the carcass with cloth dipped in fat. Place on a roasting rack in a shallow pan. Do not cover or add water. Bake at 275 to 300 degrees 3 to 4 hours. Remove cloth the last half hour. Baste several times with drippings and dust with flour after each basting for a crackly and crisp crust.
-- University of Georgia Extension Service
POSSUM:
Note: People who marinate the meat usually do so overnight in a pot of cold water along with a cup of salt and a half-cup of vinegar.
The possum is prized for its light colored, tender meat. Before cooking, remove the scent glands in the small of the back and under each foreleg between the shoulder and rib. Also remove excess fat before baking.
#### Possum and Sweet Potatoes ####
1 possum (about 2-1/2 pounds)
2-1/3 teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste
Flour
1/2-cup water
4 medium sweet potatoes
1 tablespoons sugar
Trim excess fat and discard. Wash quickly inside and out with warm water and drain thoroughly. Rub salt and pepper well into possum inside and out. Sprinkle inside and out with flour. Lay the possum on its back in a roasting pan. Add water, cover, and bake in 350-degree oven until about half done (45 to 60 minutes). Split peeled potatoes in half lengthwise and place in pan around possum. Add sugar and more water if needed. Cover sliced potatoes and possum and cook 30 minutes more.
-- University of Georgia Extension Service.
Are YOU brave enough to live on the wild side??
You are to funny.. LOLOLO... racoon resipe...LOLOLO .
IN MO that's Road kill...LOLOLO
Tracey
It just goes to show you, if folks get hungry enough, they'll eat anything that stands still long enough!!
...Glad it made you laugh. ;)
~~ Glenda
back then those varmits were not eating out of toxic garbage cans....
and can i just say......
eeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwweeeeeeeee
Sure you can, Crestedchick!! I feel the same way! You should have seen my face when my dad told me the story. But the more I think about it, it's just an animal, and we eat pigs, chickens, and other "dirty" animals, so it must be a culture thing. As society grew and life got better, here in America, people had to hunt less for their food, and started farming and raising live stock. They just didn't (need) to eat wild animals and got out of the habit of doing so. Generations were born that never experienced eating so many different wild animals, and the tradition was lost. ...I've never eaten possum or raccoon, but I'm willing to bet that if something "big" ever happened here and food was not so easily accessible, I could eat a wild animal pretty quickly if I was hungry enough. ...Good thing I've got a recipe, huh? ;) lol
Visual:> Oppossum running for its life down a backwoods country road. Woman from Michigan with recipe books under arm and shotgun in hand running after Opossum . While on the fence with a face of Horror, a scared Raccoon screams loudly to Friend OPossum "RUN 'Possum RUN"
You lady's and guys are right on the botton. My great grandpa did these things to eat and man I have to tell you it is good .
My grandma still to this day makes the good eaten of racoons and Opssum stew that would make your mouth water..LOLOLO
Tracey
Eu, you're so funny! That's quite the mental picture! LOL
A friend of mine, here in Michigan, told me last night that her mom cooked raccoon all the time. She had not had possum though. ...Let me know when you see Paula Deen cooking up some! I want to see that show!
Hey, from now on, if you have to kill a chicken killing coon, at least it won't have to go to waste. Everyone now has a recipe!! ;) You know the old saying... "Waste not, want not!"
Mom.........all I can say is.....WOW! lol
I think YOU should be the first to try it!!!! lol
Well, look here everyone; it's my baby girl. Heather Jean, when did you join DG?? I better warn everyone, HJ will add some real spice to DG! ;)
Hey, I'm the first to say I've never eaten raccoon or possum, but if it was cooked in a nice meal, and looked like a roast or any other dinner meat, I might try a taste. ....Maybe. ;)
~~ Glenda
PS: Heather has baby ducks coming this week, so she'll be on here a lot. :)
Welcome Welcome HJ!!!!! You and your Mom will make a great team here!
We need all the laughs and Spice we can get...duck pictures too!!!!
Any pics???
Tracey