The other dark meat: Raccoon is making it to the table

[babylonsister]

The other dark meat: Raccoon is making it to the table

By Lee Hill Kavanaugh | Kansas City Star


He rolls into the parking lot of Leon's Thriftway in an old, maroon Impala with a trunk full of frozen meat. Raccoon — the other dark meat.

In five minutes, Montrose, Mo., trapper Larry Brownsberger is sold out in the lot at 39th Street and Kensington Avenue. Word has gotten around about how clean his frozen raccoon carcasses are. How nicely they’re tucked up in their brown butcher paper. How they almost look like a trussed turkey … or something.

His loyal customers beam as they leave, thinking about the meal they'll soon be eating.

That is, as soon as the meat is thawed. Then brined. Soaked overnight. Parboiled for two hours. Slow-roasted or smoked or barbecued to perfection.

Raccoon, which made the first edition of The Joy of Cooking in 1931, is labor-intensive but well worth the time, aficionados say.

more...

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/59566.html

[Vickers]

1. I've heard it tastes like

possum.

:P

[kristopher]

8. like a turkey

I like my possum roasted whole and trussed up like a turkey.

For aesthetics I leave the tail attached and curl it around the garnish.

[Vickers]

10. "I leave the tail attached and curl it around the garnish"

It's those little details that make for a better presentation.

Love,

Martha Stewart

[Morrisons Ghost]

29. Actually

To me it tastes like a roast.

[TomClash]

2. What's next? Dog? nt

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

3. I'm betting squirrel makes a comeback. Also how about crows?

Is that what "4 and 20 blackbirds baked in a pie" is all about?

[tekisui]

5. I regularly eat crow.

:P

[dysfunctional press]

33. crows are hard to kill- they're very smart and wary.

blackbirds- not so much.

[Fumesucker]

4. I've eaten nutria, which is a large rodent that lives in S Louisiana bayou country..

Worked in the oil patch for a number of years with a lot of Cajuns, nutria is consider a delicacy there.

Properly cooked it's not bad.

Come to think of it, alligator is pretty good too.

I'm reminded of a Jeep commercial a number of years ago that started off: I've eaten iguana, wombat and about a thousand other things that taste like chicken.

[Alcibiades]

6. Don't call it a comeback

Here in the Carolinas coon has been a tasty treat for generations.

[lonestarnot]

7. Ackety not to mine!

They are too cute.

[mdmc]

9. Jimmy Carter sure knows the taste of coon

[HereSince1628]

11. I prefer rabbit to raccoon and racoon to opposum hands down.

squirrel is bonier than guinea pig although both taste similar to cornfed barn-rats.

[NNN0LHI]

21. I tried opossum once

The more I chewed the piece in my mouth the bigger it got.

True story.

Don

[madinmaryland]

12. Raccoon - It's not just for hats anymore!

[babylonsister]

14. LOL! nt

[depakid]

13. I guess these guys will start to get popular again...

[raccoon]

15. Welcome to hard times! nt

[raccoon]

16. I think we should eat more of these fellas:

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/herpetology/brittoncrocs/images/!amis15.jpg

[a la izquierda]

17. Wow

:puke:
Vegetarian. I can get plenty of cheap protein from beans and amaranth if push came to shove.

[RebelOne]

20. I'm with you. Vegetarian here, also. n/t

[galileoreloaded]

18. American exceptualism rears it's ugly American head here on DU.

A feast for those even farther down Maslow's pyramid than you miserable wretches.

Meant as hyperbole re: "delicate" stomachs and "soft" feelings.

[a la izquierda]

31. Oh give me a break.

I don't have a delicate stomach or soft feelings, and I only live in the US about half the time. The other half, I live in Oklahoma, where people will eat just about anything. It's just nasty to me, that's all. But the pompous-assery on DU is perfectly exemplified by the likes of you.

[deaniac21]

19. It's a tradition here in Arkansas

http://www.coonsupper.com/history.htm

[Bluzmann57]

22. Pretty good with mushroom gravy

But it is still a rich meat and is a bit hard to eat.

[saltpoint]

23. Mmm. Yummy. Mac & cheese and raccoon nuggets.

With the downturn in the economy, it's time for raccoons to organize.

Likely the same for otters and squirrels and so forth.

[LeftinOH]

24. Hmmmm...Passener Pigeon was once very popular; plentiful -and cheap!!

[Mari333]

25. ........

'please hug me.'

[Johnyawl]

26. Yeah, Right! I'd like to see you hug a racoon...

...they're mean, tough little varmints that would rip you to shreds.

I'm glad there are people eating the little cat-killers.

[Owl]

28. I'll second this. I absolutely agree with you.

[Mari333]

30. sorry i dont eat animals. and i have hugged a raccoon.

and who can blame them for ripping humans to shreds, i would too if i knew someone wanted to make me into a casserole.
my my , so much hatred of little ones.

[sinkingfeeling]

27. I had a whole family of 6 living in my attic. Mom, Dad, and 4 babies. We fed the babies apples

spread with peanut butter. Put them on a stick and the raccoons would take them and sit there and eat. They all ran away when we started tearing out walls. A couple come almost every night and eat the remains of the cats' dinners on my back porch. Most of the time, the cats just sit back and watch.

[dysfunctional press]

34. ...

we may be disgusting vermin- but we make FANTASTIC roadkill.

[EstimatedProphet]

38. Hug that and your guaranteed a disease.

[meow2u3]

32. Raccoon?!

Raccoon, the other dark meat?! Racist! :D

[madokie]

35. We eat raccoon once

this would be somewhere in the early mid '50s and one of my brothers and his buddies caught a young coon while coon hunting, skinned it, sold the hide for a couple pennies and mom cooked the bugger on her one and only wood powered cook stove, baked it in the oven. Best I remember it was pretty greasy though. Going in the oven it looked like a small version of a pig.

[WI_DEM]

36. heck, the Clampetts in Beverly Hills have always served it.

[EstimatedProphet]

37. Raccoon is quite tasty

I had it a couple of times. Got two from a trapper. Very good dense meat. Has to be cooked throughly though, because raccoons are huge parasite vectors.

[bread_and_roses]

39. by the time you use all that energy to parboil and roast or whatever

I can't imagine that one saves much if anything over buying some cheap cut of beef or pork.

I wouldn't eat one anyway unless I was starving - have a great admiration for them - they are smart and tough and yes, no doubt can kill a cat and probably some dogs too. Though I love dogs and cats, how can one dislike a wild animal for doing what it does?

[Blue_In_AK]

40. We used to eat it when I was a kid,

along with squirrels, rabbits and other assorted critters. I remember my uncles going out hunting with their "coon dogs."

[Algorem]

41. I hope somebody makes a brown burger out of Brownsberger.