MY favorite way to cook.......

[cajunsmoker]

We are always getting someone that says something like, "I could have smoked a racoon and it would have tasted better than this did" or something like that and then someone else says, "Hey buddy, racoon is some pretty good stuff if you cook it like......."

So I thought

(yea I know better), why not start a thread where everyone can post their favorite way to cook their favorite critter (preferrably wild).

So who goes first?

 

[gunslinger]

I like it. Does it have to be smoked? Because your post says "cook."
So if it's cook, I like to get a mess of squirrels and bunnies, slow cook them all day in the crock pot with my favorite BBQ sauce and a can of beer. Cook till melt-in-your-mouth tender.
I still don't know about ring-tails though.

 

[deejaydebi]

I just like my squirrels and bunnies pan fried with a little salt, pepper and garlic. About the only thing I do fry anymore.

 

[cajunsmoker]

I don't think it should have to be smoked. Just whatever way you prefer to cook them.

My favorite way to cook cottontail rabbit is just like Debi, salt, pepper, flour and fry it like chicken. Swamp rabbits are so tough though that I fry them first then make gravy and smother in the oven for about 1 - 1.5 hours to tender them up.

I've ate racoon a bunch of times. Some good, some not so good. Best I ever ate was a very young coon that was parboiled then baked with sweet potatos. The parboiling took a lot of the strong musky taste out.

 

[linecut]

no squirrel or bunnies here to eat.. but i do like to eat octopus and squid on the grill also like to eat them raw.. that and raw fish and its party time around here..

 

[jmastera]

I'll have to say that I must have been sheltered my entire life because I have never once thought of cooking up a Squirel or Cotton Tail. What do they taste like if anything?

I have had Rattle Snack, can't remember how it was cooked but it was pretty tasty, same with Alligator. Though they were both at a Fancy restaurant in Boulder, CO so I am not sure if that counts.

 

[tonto1117]

Same here... are fishey's critters????

My father and brothers allways took joy in sneaking all kind's of "critters" in my food when I was a kid, think that's why I still have an dislike for them ( A mental thing I guess

)

 

[teacup13]

never eaten squirrels or raccoons

but the wildest things i have eaten are bear and frog legs..

frog legs are good if you dont overcook them

bear, we just fried up real well in lots of butter and plenty of spices

 

[linecut]

i'm not sure now.. maybe you could call them wet critters.. but if it has to have hair on it then maybe its not a critter..maybe its a cold slimy thing..

 

[cajunsmoker]

No, fish count too. Heck if you eat it raw it ought to count double

. Down here raw fish is called bait

 

[smokincowboy]

I have a brother that him and a friend has a wild game feast every year here in Ohio we get to try about anything that is from Ohio from turtle ot goose most is grilled and cooked in the house maybe I should learn to use this smoker and smoke some of it

 

[ultramag]

Squirrels and rabbits I usually fry, but every once in awhile will bake rabbits in the oven w/ mushroom gravy or something similiar.

The best way I found to eat coon was to parboil it and then cook it in the oven . It will fall off the bone and then we add a little BBQ sauce and eat it like pulled brisket. Most people wouldn't know it's not pulled beef if you didn't tell them. The big thing with coons is to avoid the big old boars and you must remove the scent glands. That is the musky wild taste most people complain of.

This thread is making me concerned with my raising. I don't see anything unusual here at all so far. Frog legs? There are people alive that don't eat frog legs?

 

[up in smoke]

Every year, over the summer we would shoot a mess of whistlepigs, mostly at farmer’s requests, take em home, dress out the back legs and freeze em’ (there isn’t much meat on the torso, just scent glands and such on the back and forearms), then in November we would take them all up to the Sportsmans Club, where ole Sam would do them up in big electric roasters with Vidalia onions, gravy and mashed taters for our Annual Legs & Gravy Dinner! A real Treat! (tasted like pork sirloin roast)

 

[cajunsmoker]

Been there frequently

 

[deejaydebi]

That's what I always heard it called!

Speaking of Bunnies ...We used to raise rabbits when I was a kid. We had hundreds of the little buggers!
Dad used to put a little thing in the paper to sell them

Burelle's Rabbitry
Live or Dressed
555-1212

Well this one time, I was about 7 or 8, a lady called pretty close to Easter and ordered two dresed rabbits.
Me and Daddy when out back and butchered two rabbits washed them and boxed them in Daddys fancy cardboard boxes.

A few hours later this old lady (she was probably 50ish) came by to pick up her order.
Daddy chatted with the lady while I went to the fridge to get the lady her rabbits.
I came back and handed the lady her box of rabbits and she threw them up in the air, screamed bloody murder and ran to her car so fast I thought her tail was on fire. Daddy and I thought for a minute and figured the silly woman probably thought dressed meant dressed little suits or something and wanted them for Easter presents. We laughed so hard we couldn't stand up!

 

[smoked]

hummmm possum.....deep fryed!!! (if you can't smoke it...then deep fry it damnit) but then again, can't tell if them buggers are dead or just playing

 

[up in smoke]

I reckon if ya deep fry em youâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ll find out real quick-like, huh?

 

[smoked]

giggle....I hope so.....but I need to break in that new masterbuilt turkey fryer you know.....

 

[gunslinger]

When I lived in Iowa, my hunting party would save all the pheasant giblets and we'd all get together in the spring and fry em up. We'd have like 50 lbs of it. I wonder what gizzards and hearts would taste like smoked.

 

[buzzy]

I would have to say there is very few local creatures that we haven't ate but my all time favorite is boneless dove breast (pheasant, grouse or turkey will work if cut into bite size pieces) soaked in apple cider for 3 days. Then wrapped in bacon with a piece of pepper,or onion or nothing. Put in smoker with cider put in water pan & smoke until done.