Jono Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/59566.htmlThe other dark meat: Raccoon is making it to the tableNever had it, don't want it....but some of you may appreciate raccoon....what bourbon do you drink with the little thief? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funknik Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Geez, I guess...it sounds pretty labor intensive to prepare well. Since I would probably BBQ it, I would go with an "older" looking cheap bourbon...OGD, OC, JBW...probably cook it right into my BBQ sauce. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jono Posted January 14, 2009 Author Share Posted January 14, 2009 One comment indicated it was kind of like roat beef but stringy....probably all those parasitic worms...anyway...I guess a nice Cabernet and then a stiff shot of OGD would work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokinjoe Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Oh, come on!! Everybody knows that if you can't get the real stuff, you go with Georgia Moon!! PS. I got the real stuff...so, pass me over that critter!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polyamnesia Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 dang!all those years in Kemper County MISSISSIPPI and i never had any raccoon stew!and here i am in the upper providence area of PA....and i have a raccoon 'problem' (well, it's my neighbor not keeping his trash cans under control!).anyways, i try anything....already had alligator sausage...i'd probably use JD or JB to wash down da 'coon....gotta have some sunbeam bread on hand......yep ya can take da boy outta da country but you can't take the (blah blah etc) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gothbat Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 I'm up to try anything and raccoon is no exception, since it sounds like a pain in the ass to prepare I'd probably only try it if it was on the menu at a restaurant though. As the article says, it's probably better to eat game than store bought stuff these days anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishnbowljoe Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 When I was a sophomore in high school, I was on the wrestling team. Our wrestling coach and the principal (former wrestling coach) were good friends and hunted together a lot. One of the rituals of the wrestling team was the whole team getting together at the coaches house for a cookout the weekend before our first match. With all the guys cutting weight and everything, there was a lot of vegetables, turkey and chicken. There was also "coon burgers". Raccoon ground up like hamburger and cooked on the grill. It was actually pretty good. Not as gamey as you might think. Something like ground beef with just a touch of sausage, and something else I can't quite describe. That's the best description I can render. Even though raccoons are annoying creatures, they are actually fairly clean animals, at least as far as their eating habits go. In the wild, they generally try to wash their food before eating it. Garbage cans, well.... nobody is perfect. Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marco246 Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 My paternal grandmother used to prepare coon, squirrel, and possum--whatever my uncle shot--for the table. It all more or less tasted the same as it was cooked in a pressure cooker and emerged looking like wet, shredded newspaper. Sort of like soylent green--except gray. No wonder my father ran off to sea. . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jono Posted January 16, 2009 Author Share Posted January 16, 2009 Marco246, I hate to ask how much extra you pay for bourbon and what the selection is in HA.Hmm, that pressure cooker coon might go with poi!http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poi_(food) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasH Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 If Raccoon meat is making a comeback, it wont be long before getting rabies does too. Better drink some Everclear 190 with that stew as a refreshment/antibiotic/disinfectant!Thomas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bvscfanatic Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 If Raccoon meat is making a comeback, it wont be long before getting rabies does too. Better drink some Everclear 190 with that stew as a refreshment/antibiotic/disinfectant!ThomasLMAO ... or maybe marinate it for a week or so in the stuff. The article claims raccoon rabies to be an east coast phenomenon, but I'll pass, thank you very much. I spent nearly ten years in West Virginia and could never comprehend the popularity of squirrel. The darned things don't look as though they have enough meat on them for a White Castle burger. Another poplular Appalachian delicacy is groundhog. I haven't built up the nerve to try it either. Venison is, on the other hand, one of the finest flesh foods available in terms of nutritional value. Natural and unspoiled by man's tamperings, it's lean, mean and (when well prepared) extremely delicious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 This probably won't surprise any of you that know me, but we had coon last week. I don't hunt them (or groundhog) but occasionally one will venture near my deer stand or I'll see one while on my tractor or ATV. Sometimes my dogs will corner a groundhog in a blackberry thicket and a .22 bullet makes a stew more delicious than beef stew. I really do prefer groundhog stew to beef stew. I do squirrel hunt and (10 to 1) I prefer squirrel to one of those poor Tyson chickens that never leave their cage from the time they're hatched until they're butchered. Did you ever think about how many hormones you're eating when you eat chicken? It's not normal for a fryer to develop in a few weeks. However I love free range chicken (when I can get it).On a related note, a couple of weeks ago I converted 10 lbs. (+/-) of deer ham into about 3+ lbs. of beer and bourbon jerky. I put some in a bag and told Bernadette to hide it so I'll have some to take to the Sampler. WARNING: I lightly sprinkle the meat with cayenne pepper (along with salt and black pepper) and along with the 12 oz. bottle of home brew, 4 oz. of bourbon, and 1 oz. of gold rum in my marinade, I add other spices and a liberal amount of habanero sauce. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marco246 Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 Marco246, I hate to ask how much extra you pay for bourbon and what the selection is in HA.Hmm, that pressure cooker coon might go with poi!http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poi_(food)Jono,The bourbon selection is pretty weak unless you like the Jim Beam line, which is thoroughly represented. Knob Creek is about $36. MM at Costco is $34 for 1.75L. Evan Williams SB is $32; Blanton's SB is $40. The latter is the only BT product/bottling sold here unfortunately. As for poi--I think if you developed a taste for it as a kid you might like it. I don't. It is bland beyond belief--I liken it to library paste. You're right, it probably would go great with pressure cooked varmint. Unlike Tennessee, where I grew up, there are no coons, possums, or squirrels here. There are rats, mongooses, and feral pigs. The latter are much prized by native Hawaiians, and dogs are considered a delicacy by one of our Asian ethnic groups. I don't think the rats and mongooses have found their way into anyone's cookpot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gr8erdane Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 I've never had raccoon because my Dad wasn't a coon hunter but my grandpa was big time. Dad didn't care for wild game, probably because it was what he grew up on down on the little farm and the only wild game he ever described to me was possum. Too oily he said and left it at that. But in the Ozarks BAR-B-Q coon is a celebratory dinner from what I remember. I seem to remember a lot of coon hunters but not a lot of coon killers. I always figured it was a good way to get out of the house for a night....and a good coon dog was worth his weight in gold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasH Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 The rabies outbreak in the east is no fabrication. The state wildlife agencies in eastern Ohio, Western PA. and even WV have been annually distributing bait packs loaded with rabies vaccine to get the raccoons and skunks to eat it and slow the spread of the rabies. this has gone on for at least 5 years. In Ohio, it is actually the skunks that far and away are the biggest rabies carrying population!Thomas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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