I knew some folks 40yrs ago, coon hunters, they had coon regularly, I never tried it, kinda wished I had. go to backwoodsbound.com several different ways to cook.

From "Unmentionable Cuisine", by Calvin W. Schwabe:

Skinning (and field dressing) should be done as quickly as possible, care being taken to remove intact the glands on the inside of the front legs and on the back. Remove as much fat as possible. Aging of the meat is a matter of preference. Presoaking (and parboiling) are usually desirable for all but the youngest animals.

Schwabe states that raccoons are excellent simply split and broiled over charcoal. They may be parboiled and marinated and basted with a BBQ sauce suitable for pork.

Fried 'coon stew
Cut young coons into small pieces and soak them in cold salted water for a few hours. Dry and trim all fat. Salt, pepper, and dredge in flour. Fry slowly in lard till the meat falls off the bones. Remove bones. Add quartered potatoes, rice, onions, carrots, peppers, okra, and tomatoes and cook till the rice and potatoes are tender.

(end of quotes from the cookbook)

Yes, I have cooked and eaten raccoon. (As noted above by my husband). However, since coons, even young ones, are greasy and so pretty much require parboiling to remove as much of the fat as possible and to tenderize, I am not sure I would make this a meat of choice for "living off the land".

What exactly do you mean by that? In other words, how much gear are you planning to take? How many basic supplies?

Yes, Mountain Men lived on just a bit of flour, salt, coffee, maybe some dried beans; and a skillet and maybe a pot and whatever they could shoot - but their expectations as to what was really edible was quite a bit different from our modern taste.

Not to discourage you, but even cottontails are tough spitted and cooked over a fire, with no other prep than skinning...

Yet another consideration:

Game meat, even fat game meat, does NOT supply the fat required by the human body. There is a thing called "protein starvation". You MUST have either a fairly considerable amount of fat, or a sufficient amount of vegetables, or you will get ill. Of course, if you are only planning to do this for a short time (say less than 2 weeks) (or if you are good enough at identifying edible wild vegetation) this would not apply.

when and if we get to do the hunt i am wanting to "live off the land" on i was just thinking we could supplement the food that we take with wild meats while we are out there yeah maybe 4 days tops. some of the other recipes that have been posted on here look good enough for me to try and get me a coon and cook it here at the house. thanks for the inputs.

Over the years I have found out that it is best to try a new method or food at home, inside on the range or in the oven. Then try it in the back yard. THEN try it out at camp.

Good luck and enjoy yourself

My granddad always said the best way to took a coon is as follows. "Build a big fire, a hot fire. When the fire is ready toss on the coon and two bricks. When the fire burns comepletely out throw the coon in a damn bush and eat the bricks." (J.T. Cox, circa 1985)

i'm pretty sure i'd rather bar-b-q the A55 end out of a dead rhinosaurus than eat a coon. jmho.

Whats next... fileting gar and carp haha jk.. i might need to try a lil coon

Hey gar is pretty good. Atleast alligator gar, never tried any other. It is good fried, or mad into gar balls.

huh huh... gar balls!

Gar balls are just gar meat made into a ball with seasoning and fish fry, then you just fry it. It is really good.

Buddy I work with makes alligator boudin...it fn' rocks! Coon...I'll save these recipe ideas in case there's nohting left to eat.

My name is Ardoin, I am creole from southeast Louisiana, we are best known for our outdoor cooking skills. If you can cook and eat weinners, you have already eaten the parts of an animal that cannot be sold over the counter (byproducts) sex organs and inners, and probably a bunch of crazy cows. The first thing that you don't do is remove all the fat from the meat this is where all of the flavor is stored in the meat, and secondly the fat should stay on the meat to keep it moist and tender after the meat is done to your satisfaction the fat is easily removed before consumption. For those people that are trying to be funny I will say to you " hard times will make a monkey eat red pepper. If you really want to know how to cook a coon contasct me.

Ardoin,

And yes, I can pronounce your name correctly. I'm from Soutwest/central LA and I've eaten and cooked my share of it all and enjoyed it.

You all need to check this thread out! It's gone off on a rabbit trail quickly, probably some of my fault.

http://www.texashuntingforum.com/ubbthre...art/2/vc/1/nt/3

Sick

yall are nasty. if I had to eat something and coon was all I had, I don't think I would be to worried about how it tastes. till then they are vulture food

My wife would pass out. Ut sounds delicous to me. My dad cooked it once but I was way too little to remember if I liked it. Tasted better than taters we had for a few months is all I recall.

Wow you had to dig to find this one. I never did make it out on that hunt and don't think I have killed a coon since before I had posted this. I still need to try it.

Wrap in fresh chitlins. Boil for one hour. Enjoy!!!!!!

WE had some problem coons in camp,a guy told me to use cheap cat food,the smellier the better,first night out it worked,I caught what later would become our family cat.Man I wish I could take that night back.

Cook them the same way you would a bobcat or coyote.

I'm glad I live in America, and don't have to eat thus.
I'm sure the rat catchers of India could share some good recipes.

Funny story about a fellow grilling a raccoon for Christmas Dinner.
http://cannundrum.blogspot.com/2010/12/grilled-whole-raccoon.html