May 7, 2018

Good Eating: Smoked 'Possum

Several of you were curious about the egg-stealing opossums Dan bagged for dinner. Over the weekend he hot-smoked the legs on the grill, because that is his favorite way of cooking meat. In fact he no longer buys charcoal, but uses pecan wood to grill our meat. Hickory is excellent for smoking and pecan is in the hickory family, so our burgers and cuts are always tasty.
 
How did we like it?

Homegrown dinner: hot-smoked 'possum, oven
baked sweet potato fries, and deviled eggs.


We liked it! How did it taste? Flavor was mild and not the least bit gamy. But it was pretty chewy, so I cooked the other two legs a little more in my slow cooker with a little bit of bone broth. It still had the smoked flavor but that tenderized the meat. That was all it needed and I can honestly say that we thought it was better than chicken!

19 comments:

Goatldi said...

Nice presentation and I bet it smelled incredible with that cooking method!

Love sweet potato fries. And deviled eggs now I am getting hungry. So do tell is it better than frog legs?

Sherry said...

I have never had possum, but if I ever tried it yours looks good. Have a very good day!

Henny Penny said...

I've heard of folks eating possum, in fact there's an elderly may that lives nearby that likes possum. I'll have to admit, what you've cooked looks good...all the food looks good. By the way, I LOVE your hay loft! A barn like yours is a dream of mine. I could live in your new hay loft!

Leigh said...

Goatldi, to be honest, it's been so long since I had frogs legs that I don't recall how they tasted! The possum was definitely high on the delicious meter. :)

Sherry, this was a first for us too! Dan hated to kill them, but we were afraid that after they ate all our setting duck's eggs they'd go for her too. But if we kill something, we hate worse to waste it.

Henny, I doubt too many folks these days would even think to give it a try! And
thanks for your kind words about barn and hay loft. I have to admit that seeing it go up is like having a dream come true. :)

Gorges Smythe said...

Having skinned a few in my time, I never quite worked up nerve enough to try them, but I always heard they were delicious if handled right.

Kris said...

I don't have much problem with 'possums, but last year I trapped 10 groundhogs. Let me know when you've found a good recipe for that! LOL Glad you found a great way to recycle a troublemaker.

Quinn said...

I wish I had been exposed to more types of food as a youngster, because I seem to have hit a cut-off point somewhere along the line for being able to try unfamiliar meats. I feel the same way you do about wasting something you've killed, and my hat is off to you for being more responsible about it than I am. Not that I kill much, but sometimes when I do I have to look at it as "food for something else in the world." Fortunately, I live in a wooded area, and there are always plenty of critters looking for a meal...I just don't "set the table" too close to the house!

Yarrow said...

That's so interesting and good that you enjoyed the flavour.
I'm laid up today, so enjoying some of your older posts. I'm in a similar situation to your post about what can you live without. We're setting up our smallholding from scratch and will be making those choices in the next year or two. We have money to set up, but after that we have to be self reliant!

Yarrow said...

BTW, the barn looks lovely :D

Ed said...

Hopefully word gets out that you love eating possum!

Leigh said...

Gorges, I concur that they are good eating. Once the legs are off they look like chicken legs and less like 'possum.

Kris, see Joy of Cooking (refers to them as woodchucks, but it's the same thing) or Encyclopedia of Country Living on small game. They'll tell you how to prepare and cook it!

Quinn, I think that's true of a lot of folks. Not sure why I've always been willing, but my food prejudices have leaned elsewhere. I agree that everything is food for something else. That's how everything survives.

Yarrow, sorry to hear you're laid up! Not much fun but it is nice to have time for blog reading. Glad you stopped by and commented!

Ed, if that turns out to be the case, we'll either have a year's worth of donated possum meat or the animal rights folks picketing our house!



Mrs Shoes said...

I was SO curious, glad to hear that it was yummy. We do not have possums this far north.

Ed said...

I should have been more specific. I meant hopefully the word gets out to the possum community that you like to eat them.

Mama Pea said...

Good for you for being brave enough (?) to try cooking and eating the possum! I would have tried it without hesitation . . . the way you and Dan cooked it anyway.

We've been eating a lot of deviled eggs these days, too. Our chickens (and ducks and geese) are all laying like crazy and we really like deviled eggs so that's a way to use some of them. I also put a lot of hard boiled eggs in my potato salad, but we've run out of last season's potatoes and I just hate to buy them!

Leigh said...

Mrs Shoes, it's definitely in the thumbs up column!

Ed, LOL, Yes! They should definitely be the target audience. :)

Mama Pea, the first bite is always a hold-your-breath moment! LOL. I just made potato salad over the weekend and added hard-boiled eggs! very tasty. Hard-boiled and deviled eggs really are a nice change of pace, especially in summer. They make such a handy base for a meal or side dish!

deb harvey said...

for kris,
was told to boil groundhog in two or three waters with window open because of odor.
then prepare for eating in your chosen way.

Leigh said...

Deborah, thanks for that. We have ground hogs but they aren't a problem for us so I never considered them for eating. But it's good to know!

Cozy Thyme Cottage said...

My one word for eating possum is yuk! Guess I am not very adventurous. Nancy

Leigh said...

Nancy, to each their own!