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

[Chris_]

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

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.

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Then there are the comments....liberals just can't stay on topic:

09:01:07am 01/13/2009Maggie

jfmxl

After 8 years of the Bush Administration,
your fears for America's future are warranted
and things will likely get worse before they get better.
It will take 8 years of Obama/Biden leadership before
we see substantial improvements.
Take comfort in the fact that McCain and Palin are
NOT taking Oaths of Office on January 20th, 2009.
And get ready for some hard work.........

...and then there's a PETA freak:

08:01:34am 01/13/2009capnmike

Raccoons are wild animals. Nobody is farming them. The fastst way to make these animals extinct is to have the overpopulated humans hunting them for food. There are not enough raccoons to feed a fraction of the human piopulation, in addition to the numbers slaughtered on our highways and displaced by urban sprawl and "developers" cutting down the woods tio build more un-needed houses. Leave them alone and eat chicken.

 

[Thor]

We had several of them (7 or 8) this past spring summer hanging around the house, eating the cat's food and crapping all over the place. I managed to get rid of all but one of them without harm. The last one just wouldn't leave. I shot and killed it. It was a very nice kill and a very fat raccoon. I thought of making a meal or two of it, but..... I'm just not a skilled enough cook to prepare raccoon. It wound up as coyote fodder.

[RobJohnson]

I had BBQ coon once at a retirement party for my Uncle, it was actually not bad.

[Chris_]

We had several of them (7 or 8) this past spring summer hanging around the house, eating the cat's food and crapping all over the place. I managed to get rid of all but one of them without harm. The last one just wouldn't leave. I shot and killed it. It was a very nice kill and a very fat raccoon. I thought of making a meal or two of it, but..... I'm just not a skilled enough cook to prepare raccoon. It wound up as coyote fodder.

I have raccoons in the area, but they are not normally a problem.  Possums are a different story.  So far 28 of them have received "lead poisoning".     One particularly large one required 5 doses (.22LR) with the last "dose" from a distance of about 5 feet before he would cease and desist.

[Crazy Horse]

I have raccoons in the area, but they are not normally a problem.  Possums are a different story.  So far 28 of them have received "lead poisoning".     One particularly large one required 5 doses (.22LR) with the last "dose" from a distance of about 5 feet before he would cease and desist.

the hell with an opossum....................they'll crawl up a dead cows ass

[Thor]

You don't crawl up a dead cow's ass to look at a t-bone??

[Crazy Horse]

You don't crawl up a dead cow's ass to look at a t-bone??

No Tommy