Raccoon recipe

[Pupster]

I was browsing through a soul food cookbook borrowed from the library this evening only to be startled by this peculiar recipe. Apologies to the better informed, I'm just an ignorant city gal and am curious to appease this mis-education.

Dolly's Delicious 'Coon from Sylvia's Family Soul Food Cookbook

1 5-lb raccoon
3 large onions
1/4 lb fatback
2 tbs red pepper flakes
1 tsp seasoned salt
2 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper
2 tsp Accent (optional)
2 cups chopped onion

You simmer the raccoon for 6 HOURS! before baking it for another hour.

2 questions:
1) Has anyone tried this or some other raccoon recipe? and please describe the taste.
2) Are there other unusual meat recipes out there? (Not the more common alligator, snake, horse, roo or usual game.)

[Karl S.]

Well, I trust Sylvia -- it's a great cookbook! The old Joy has a single recipe, much shorter in duration.

[ChefElias]

The old Joy of Cooking also has prep instructions for possum and maybe some other woodland critters. If my memory served me correctly, they recommend keeping the possum in a cage for 10 days, feeding it milk, before you kill and skin it.

Does anyone else remember the Garrison Keillor show a while back where an actor impersonating Ross Perot was leading a cooking show on how to cook raccoon? It was hilarious!

Eli

[Val Ann C]

A cautionary note:
Some raccoons carry rabies. Same for possums. Not sure if the disease is transmittable after the animal has died, but why take chances with a fatal disease.

Wild mammals should be left alone. If there is a nuisance animal nearby, call a professional (board of health, animal control, or state fish and wildlife office). If you ever have physical contact with a raccoon, skunk, possum, bat, or other wild mammal, see a doctor immediately.

Back to the chow...

Link: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rabies...

[foiegras]

My understanding is that the only possums with rabies have been infected in a lab with a huge megadose. Possums in the wild are not rabid. (This info courtesy of a possum rescue expert.)

I have never cooked or eaten raccoon, but there has been one in the neighborhood that I wish someone had baked or fried or ... any preparation at all would have been fine with me.

[sizzle937]

It tastes a lot like bear. Which is similar to pork. Racoon is not as greasy. It has been 50 years since I ate any though.

[Dennis S]

My grandfather probably has some in his deep freeze, but certainly goes to some racoon dinner every year (and also certainly has squirrel in his freezer).

He said it tastes more like slow cooked brisket, and that while caring for my grandma, fed it to her telling her it was beef.

[Elaine (Snutteplutten)]

I attach a link to a long recent article on the history and pros and cons raccoon eating - if you go all the way to page 7, there's some "varmint" recipes, including one for roast raccoon.

Link: http://riverfronttimes.com/issues/200...

[Pupster]

Terrific article. I especially liked the description of the Larry Forgione meal. It's one of the few instances when I preferred hearing the description rather than eating the meal myself.

I try to be open minded enough to try anything once, but varmint may be beyond the pale for me. Loved reading the description though.

[Elaine(Snutteplutten)]

I agree, although I was tempted to try beaver based on the write up. Don't think I'd find it in Brooklyn though (no lewd remarks, please :)!)

[Tee]

See if you can find a copy of Eat Like A Wild Man, 110 years of great Sports Afield recipes, compiled by Rebecca Gray. I have a copy and have given copies to friends. If it has fur, fins or feathers, there's a recipe for it here.

[Tom Meg]

You might enjoy the recently published book by Elantu B. Veovode called "The Contented Poacher: Tales and Recipes from an Epicure in the Wilderness".

It has information on catching, field dressing, and cooking all sorts of critters. Including the helpful raccoon tip "--don't ever follow a raccoon into the water--they'll climb on top of your head and try to drown you."

Link: http://meglioranza.com

[chefj]

Also never stand under a tree that a raccoon is up he'll pee on you!

[ChiliDude]

Oy weh! Doesn't sound Kosher to me. What is the source of the 'coon, roadkill or farm-raised? If'n it only weighs 5 pounds, the dressing percentage is awfully low. Try armadillo instead.

[Scottie]

Soak in milk overnight, dust in flour, brown and braise untill fork tender(add vegies like a beef stew). I did muskrat for a civil war reenactment and it reminded me of a heady chuck roast

[jswee10]

recipe looks good except it is missing vinegar. you will essentially parboil the racoon until it becomes tender. Then put it in a roasting pan spooning the liquids on occaisionally. It will tast like pork, tough not as greasy. We put barbeque sauce on ours as it finishes roasting. We have this for thanksgiving as the season opens Nov 1. Also anyone that says they eat possum are usually mistaken. an opossum has is oily with a foul taste. I have never known anyone to actually eat it, but have known many that lie about it.

[EricMM]

It used to be possible to buy raccoon in some of the markets in Chinatown, NYC. They also sold armadillo...haven't seen it in years, probably because of law enfortcement...I doubt these were farm raised animals...I also suspect that some of the venison sold was not farm raised....as for the possibilities of rabies in possums, a rabid possum was trapped in NYC a few years ago, according to the papers.

[EricMM]

Since I had mentioned armadillo in this post....they have recently discovered that armadillos are the reservoir for leprosy in the US.....a large number of them, if not the vast majority, are carriers of leprosy. I definitely do not intend to try armadillo now....

[Sneadious]

I killed & cooked a possum last Christmas. I was told to remove as much fat as possible when dressing it, as the fat was the source of any 'off' flavors. Far from being oily or greasy (I baked it) it was actually a bit dry. We called it 'tree duck' because that's exactly what it tasted like.
I assure you I am neither mistaken, or lying.

[Querencia]

We once had a raccoon get drunk as a lord when we put many little plastic tubs of beer out to trap slugs in the back yard. The raccoon found all of it and had a major party, drinking all the beer and eating all the slugs. He was staggering around the terrace at 3 AM bumping into furniture; we were awakened and thought we had a burglar. Never realized we could have eaten our intruder...

[sunshine842]

heehee -- saw the same thing in the FL Keys years ago -- we were drinking rum out of pineapple "glasses" -- one of the guys chucked his in the dumpster when he was done, where it was promptly devoured by a raccoon. Poor guy staggered across the terrace where we were sitting, scrabbled his way up a palm tree, and promptly fell out of the palm tree into the sand at the edge of the terrace before shaking his head and weaving off into the brush, apparently unhurt.

He might have been pretty tasty, having been marinated in rum and pineapple juice from the inside out....

[pikawicca]

It's better than bear, but that's not saying much. The most palatable rendition I've had is a buttermilk brine with lots of salt, peppercorns, thyme, and a bit of sage, for 48 hours. Dredge in seasoned flour, fry until browned, then finish in a 350 degree oven until tender. But really, that's a lot of work for a dish most folks won't appreciate.

[foiegras]

Not as much work as porcupine ...

I quite like the line 'I assure you I am neither mistaken nor lying' ... I may have to borrow it.

[piccola]

I'm surprised so few people eat raccoon, given that they're basically everywhere and eating them would cut down on the population. (Same goes for Canada geese.) I'm vegetarian, so I have no interest in eating any meat, but I would actually find that totally valid from a sustainability point of view.

[Veggo]

Maybe when vegetarians start eating kudzu?

[pikawicca]

Kudzu is to vegetarian cuisine as raccoon is to omnivore cuisine. Perfect, Veggo.

[piccola]

Not opposed to that either, but it doesn't grow here. I do eat dandelion and other "weeds" though.

[Terrie H.]

I had to laugh when this thread surfaced. Two years ago a family of raccoons fell from the chimney into an unused fireplace in my living room in a cloud of soot. After much hysteria and a visit from county animal control, they left. When recounting the drama to my very Cajun man who was in the Middle East at the time, he asked, "well, did you eat them??"

Apparently my reaction to that idea made him more evil than usual and he asked his sister to send me a recipe for cooking raccoon. She didn't realize it was a joke and included instructions on how to skin, etc. I live in the suburbs of Wasington, DC and we just don't eat raccoons!!