Wild Game Recipes: Roast Raccoonby Kendall

Here’s a secret: raccoon is good eats! A recipe for roast raccoon was included in the 1931 edition of The Joy of Cooking, and more recently, it received an article in the Kansas City Star. Raccoon tastes good, is lean, and highly nutritious. In Missouri, one whole raccoon sells for $4-$7 and feeds 4-5 hungry adults. Coons are safest to eat out West, as East Coast coons sometimes have diseases, so make sure your meat looks healthy before buying (and no trapper will sell you diseased meat in the first place). If you happen upon some fresh, wild coon meat, you may be surprised to find one paw remaining on the carcass. This is required by law to prove that the meat is, in fact, raccoon, and not some mystery meat.

If you trap them yourself, you only want to catch them during freezing temperatures, apparently they taste better then. Follow these steps for dressing the game: skin, draw, and clean the meat as soon as possible. Carefully remove the scent glands from under the forelegs, thighs, and back. They are brown, bean-shaped kernels, and you don’t want to break them.

This recipe comes from a farm journal and makes enough for 24 people, so pare it down if you aren’t serving that many.

Roast Raccoon

3 to 4 raccoons, 4-5 lbs. each
5 Tbsp. salt
2 tsp. pepper
2 c. flour
1 c. oil for frying (use only as much as needed at one time)
8 medium onions, peeled
12 bay leaves

Cut meat into pieces, saving meaty backs and legs for baking. Cook bony pieces in water to make a broth for the gravy and dressing, adding a small amount of seasonings. Simmer until meat falls from the bone, strain, and set aside.

Season the rest of the meat with salt and pepper, then dredge in flour, brown in a skillet with the oil, and put in a roasting pan. Add onions and bay leaves, cover, and bake at 350° for about 2 hours or until tender.

Afterword, make the gravy by adding flour to the pan drippings (2-3 Tbsp. flour for 1 c. liquid). Serve with vegetables, mashed potatoes, gravy, and stuffing.