Uncommon Recipes

[Slike]

I know there's gotta be at least a few of you who hunt. I'm looking for some recipes for raccoon or tips on making jerky, particularly venison. Got some?

 

[curliet]

Some years back, my dear hubby was hunting raccons, and after treeing one, took a shot at it up high in the branches. Turns out the raccon had taken refuge in the same tree that already was sheltering a porcupine, and he saw the dark shape and shot it. When the dead porky came falling out of the tree, he had to decide about a rule that we had made to teach our kids about being responsible hunters. The rule was "if you shoot it, you'd better be prepared to eat it." So, he brought it (carefully) to me, and we found a way to skin it, and scrape the fat from it. I cut it into pieces as you would any small animal and put it into the crockpot with some celery, carrots, onions and a little bit of apple. My kids weren't thrilled about the idea of eating it, but had to admit that it was good, tasted like pork roast. I found later that during the depression, porcupines were almost hunted to extinction, were called "the poor man's feast" because even someone who couldn't afford a gun could kill a slow moving porky with a club.

 

[Poison Ivy]

My uncle has been a cook his whole life. Where ever he goes if he eats something that is great tasting he talk the cook into givin up their secret. There is a lady who makes jerky for people who bring in their deer or bear etc.... He finally got the recipe and said it was the best ever. I had black bear jerky made with this recipe. It was great!!!

Best Ever Jerky

1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp black pepper
1 tbsp red wine
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp hot sauce
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp meat tenderizer
1/8 tsp red pepper
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup worcestershire sauce
3 lbs meat sliced 1/4" thick

Cover with marinade and keep in refrigerator 24 hrs then dry.

 

[Slike]

Curliet, that's really interesting, I didn't know that about porcupines! I suppose there's no reason they wouldn't be tasty, but I had never heard that anyone ate them before or thought of them as a "food item". Now that I think about it, it is an herbivore so it probably would be pretty tasty. I learn something new every day here

Ivy, thanks! I will try this recipe out with the next deer. It sounds delicious already!

 

[Liza]

I found two recipes in my cook books for Raccoon.

Number 1:

Craberry Braised Raccoon
21/2 to 3 lbs raccoon pices, fat and glands removed
1 cump finely chopped cranberries
1 cup apple cider
1/s cup honey
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon goround cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Place raccoon pieces in large sucepan. In samll mixing bowl, combine remaining ingredients; mix well. Pour over raccoon pices. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat' cover. Simmer until racoon is tender, 2 to 3 hours, stirring once or twice


Number 2:

Cranberry Raccoon in Crockpot

Follow recipe above, using crockpot instead of sucepan. Cover and cook on low heat until raccoon is tnder 9 to 10 hours.

Traditional Venison Jerky

Seasoning Mixture:
2 1/4 Teaspoon tenderizing salt (e.g. Morton's Tenderquick)
2 1/4 teaspoons pikling salt
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons pepper
1 1/2 pounds boneless deer, antelope, elk or moose
In small bowl or empty spice bottle with shaker top, combine all seasoning-mixture ingredients. Mix well: set aside. Slice venison with the grain into stirps about 1/8 inch think. Arrange in single layer on cutting board. Sprinkle evenly with seasoning mixture, using mixture as though salting heavily. Pound meat tightly with meat mallet. Turn stirps over: sprinke and pound second side.

Arrange meat on smoker racks. Cold-smoke until stirps are dry but not brittle, 5 hours or longer, rearrangeing racks peridically and adding additional wood chips as necessary. (Hickory, cherry or mesquite work well in this recipe). Jerky will become more brittle as it cools. Refrigerate jerky for storage.

Let me know if you need more recipes. I just might have them.


Happy Cooking,
Liza

 

[SterlingAcres]

Can't give the jerky recipe, in fear my grandparents would shoot me LOL But I can say that you can make amazing jerky in your oven. Everyone I know thinks they need a dehydrator to make jerky, but that's not the case. We've always set the oven to low (probably 200ish), stuck tooth picks threw the fattest section of meat strips, hung them inside the regular oven racks and waited a few hours (5-6 depending on the size of your meat)....

Easy and yummy

Good luck.

I bet the porkie was tasty too! We've eaten an odd selection of meat, but I must say my favorites are squirrel and Canadian goose.

 

[curliet]

I forgot to mention that when we were cleaning the porkie, it smelled like peaches. Funny thing is, there aren't any peach trees around hee that we know of, but they do like fruits and veggies, must just have been eating lots of berries, etc.

 

[Mrs.Puff]

We make venison jerky about every year. Here's how to do it: slice your meat WITH the grain, into strips about 3 inches long. Soak them in a bowl with one-third bottle of teriyaki, two-thirds bottle of soy sauce, a bunch of fresh cracked, or at least coarse-ground black pepper, and a little celery seed if you wish. Marinate for a couple days. Poke a toothpick through the end of each one, then hang by the toothpick on the rack of the stove. About 100 degrees, with the door propped open, should be good. I have a woodstove, so no thermostat. Just don't forget to put an old cookie sheet under the meat, or a piece of foil or something, to catch any drips. Just let it dry out til it seems dry enough. That's it! We don't eat raccoons. We just fed the carcasses to our pig. I know, it's gross, but I'm not about to eat fatty old coons. ick.

 

[kartking22]

I got my revenge on a racoon that was killing my birds. I figured that he was good to eat since he was well fed with a bunch of my chickens and pheasants.
I baked it in the oven until it was done. Then pulled all of the meat off the bones making sure to discard any fat. ( This gives it that 'gamey' taste.) I put the meat in a crock pot and let it simmer for a few hours with onions, celery, salt, pepper, and some garlic. I couldn't taste a difference between this and beef roast. I sort of suprised myself on how well it turned out.

 

[kartking22]

Have to add one more recipe.
This is so simple that it's almost scary.
Smoked Salmon....
Ingredients......
Salmon, brown sugar, salt.
Take salmon (skin on) and place in a baking pan or cookie sheet meat side up. Mix two parts brown sugar and one part salt. (non iodized salt. Canning salt or sea salt is best.) Take the sugar/salt mixture and place on top of the salmon like a rub. Place in the refrigerator overnight. Rinse the remainder of rub from the salmon unless you like your smoked salmon sweeter or saltier. Place in a smoker grill skin side down until done. That's it...
I use sugar maple wood for smoking for my preference. Apple wood seems to give it a slight bitter taste.
Rule of thumb is, chew on a small piece of what you want to smoke it with. If you don't like the taste, don't smoke it with that wood.