Raccoon Soup

I just made raccoon soup, also earlier today I ate some biscuits and coon gravy.  I made it much like you would make chicken soup from a chicken, or gravy from pan drippings.  Basically the same recipes, only with a raccoon.  It tastes a lot like goat.

The grease is the most gamy part of it, and I've decided I like it, although for soup you will want to take off as much fat as you can from the raccoon before boiling it for soup or it will be rather greasy.  You can then take that fat, and render it, so you can use it for other things.

I had a much earlier article about eating varmints during hard times. I'd tried squirrel and rabbit, but not raccoon (I might have had some at this one party, but I don't remember now).  And I wanted to actually learn how to butcher and clean a varmint in person, not just from reading about it. (click for the rest)



So I got this dead raccoon.  It started with a chance encounter where I met this guy who had just trapped a raccoon and then shot it.  He was going to throw it out, but I talked him into showing me how to butcher and clean it, and he got the tail and I got the rest. (I didn't keep the fur).

It goes without saying that you should observe your raccoon before killing it to make sure it's not rabid.  Rabid raccoons froth at the mouth and stagger around.  You should also wear sterile gloves while cleaning a raccoon or any animal.  Be careful and don't cut yourself.

If you don't care about saving the fur all in one piece, which is worth maybe $3.00 (used to be worth $30 to $60, but no more), you can cut the hide around the waist like you would a squirrel.  Then you will pull the hide off in either direction.  (to preserve a raccoon hide, scrape off as much fat as you can, and then rub rock salt on the inside of the hide, and let it dry out.)

Here's how to skin it quick rather than fancy:  In order to avoid cutting the gut open just yet, pinch the skin and pull it up, cut a slit in the pinched part maybe about 4 or 5 inches long, then work with that and start cutting around the waist, all the time pulling up on the skin so you don't cut the gut.  A razor knife (like a box cutter) is good for this.  The sharper the knife the better.  You can then pull the skin off.  Once you get to the head, just behead the critter, rather than trying to get the skin off.  You don't want to eat the head anyway, probably.  If you have an axe or butcher knife, that's a good tool for that.

With the feet, you can either pull mightily and get the hide off that way (you may have to stand on the carcass, wrap the skin a couple times around your hand, and pull) or you can take a big knife and chop off the feet first and then you won't have to pull so hard.  Or maybe if you want to keep a foot on (like if you are going to barter the critter and you want someone to know what sort of critter it was), cut the hide around the ankle.  You might have to cut around its butt too.

Once the hide is off, slit the critter down the middle of its belly (not a very deep cut), grab the innards and yank them out.  Watch out for poop.  You don't want to puncture the intestines and there may also be poop in its butt. But like they say, this too shall pass.

Then wash this raccoon really good.  Get it as clean as possible. Scrub it with your hands.

Take a knife and scrape off as much fat as you can.  You can grab the fat and pull up, then start cutting under it.  You can save the fat in a bowl, and then fry it to render it.  You don't have to be perfect with this job; a little fat will add flavor.  Also peel as much fascia off the muscles as you can.  Rinse it again.


Soak your raccoon overnight in salt water.  You can also use wine, but that's probably a waste of perfectly good wine.  Salt's cheaper.  Now change the water, and boil your raccoon.  I suggest 10 hours in a crock pot on low. Put herbs, onion, garlic, pepper.  Some people like to add apples.  Meh.

Now fish out the raccoon and cool it until you can handle it, and debone it.  At this point you can skim even more fat from the surface of the broth and save it for making gravy.  Put the meat back, add various vegetables like carrots, celery, parsnips, taters etc., salt to taste, and cook it again in the crock pot for maybe 4 hours or until the veggies are done.  You can also take the bones and boil them separately along with the ends of your celery, onion skins, etc. to make broth for other recipes.

Voila - Raccoon soup.  Serves a whole lot of people, if you can convince them to try raccoon.

And now a word from our sponsor (not really, just some random guy with a baby raccoon on his head)

Occupy the Woods!