My great grandfather liked to have a baked possum once in awhile when he was living I think he baked it with sweet potatoes but not sure. Any of you old timers remember older family members eating habit them if you do how did they cook them? Thanks

You can skin them or de-hair them like a hog (boiling water). I'm told the crisp skin makes them better. I think a lot of folks who trap and pick up a possum, they keep it penned and feed it corn for a week or two and then eat it. I've usually just used them for bait, never ate one, not yet anyway.

Thanks for the info Dave

The Louisiana forums should be full of possum recipes.

I would as soon eat a dirty pair of shorts as I would a possum.

Hell yall act like its the woest thing on earth to eat lol people here all thru the ages ate it

Sage advice from Uncle Jed....

Just as soon to eat Do Do with a dirty spoon,have seen too many in old dead cows,same with Armadillo's.

I've only had it a couple of times (coon too) but I was unaware what it was until after I ate it ... not bad.

some of the old cedar choppers around the north eastside of Lake Buchanan used to trap and cook (both coon & possum). I don't know what all they did to it, but the guts, head & tail were gone, so looked kinda like a 4 legged turkey (if you will), cooked in a roasting pan with lid similar to roast beef or pork roast with potatoes, onions and carrots. I fully suspect they only used salt & black pepper as those were the only staple spices of that era.

I have eaten possum, but not since I was a kid. I trapped and kept alive any large possums I caught. I placed them either in a coup or in a trash barrel with leaves on the bottom for them to say on and "purged" them by feeding table scraps for several days similar to what Dave Scott posted about. My grandfather would make the phone calls for me and one of several gentlemen would come by the house to buy them for food. I don't know how many I trapped in my youth, but had to be at least 2 or 3 hundred of them. I think I got as much as $3 for the bigger ones, which was a lot of money to a little kid in the late 60s, early 70s. I did have someone bring me some "possum stew" once and though I don't remember what it tasted like, I don't remember it being bad. I do remember them saying the meat has to be boiled and the fat poured off before cooking.



To this day, it is not unusual for me to see a possum, run it down, grab it, run back to the truck, tent, camper, whatever, throw it in the door, slam the door shut, and stand back just to see what the people inside will do.

HAHAHAHA!!! who cleans up the mess when you toss one into those various places?

I don't know, I just know I am out of sight when the evacuation starts. And know nothing.

Cool story SJ!

Never ate one" that I know of", but never know what ya will eat if times get hard, and looks like that's where we are heading........

Exactly!

Dad talked about it, but never saw him try it. I guess you have to really be hungry!
My Uncle did kick one, one night coon hunting, and the crazy thing latched on to his boot and tore up the end.
No all pass out...some have attitude!

I'm gonna say the best recipe for that is the trash.

Roasted Opossum (you could also use this for Raccoon)
Into boiling water, put 1 sprig sage or bay leaf, 1 onion, 2 pods seeded and veined
chili peppers; add the animal and boil for a little less than 1 hour.
Select 3 or 4 good sized yams and boil in their jackets. When almost tender, peel and cut in
half the long way.
Now take the animal from the boiling water, drain well, lay in a roasting pan and put in
a 300 degree oven for 1/2 hour, then surround the meat with the yams and sprinkle them with
ginger, cinnamon, cloves and brown sugar or cane syrup; return to he oven and roast for
another 1/2 hour.
Serve with this dish turnips and their tender greens that have been cooked with a liberal
slice of salt pork or pig jowl and, of course, corn bread or pone.

I've eaten possum many times but not in several years. Armadillo too. They key to eating them is to have another person keep a watch out for cars.

Dad cooked a 'dillo once, dog wanted no part of it either.

As long as there are some cows walking around..... no possum for me.

First you have to kill the possum. The best possum bait is a dead cow. When the cow dies, wait a few days, walk up and kick the dead cow in the back a few times (the stomach might explode if kicked) and watch for your dinner to crawl out of the dead cow's rectum. My recipe ends there.

I'd say find a good bobcat recipe, and just substitute the possum for the cat.