OK, I shouldn't jump in here, but I'm going to anyway. You knew I would.

Actually, much like poultry, they benefit from brining, but Grandma just said they needed to be "soaked in salt water". I didn't know about brining then.

And, if I were a mother with children during the depression, I'd be cutting that possum up and making stew. Why? Because a possum really isn't all that big and if you add enough cheap and available vegetables like onions, potatoes and carrots, you can stretch it to feed a lot of people.

It's fatty, though, so you need to trim it well after it's skinned.

Annie

As I mentioned, the kids interviewed people who were themselves kids in the Depression. Some of those people, who must be 90-ish now, came to see the play or the rehearsals. I saw this note from one. This must be where the kids got the idea of the possum.

There was a possum in the play, he escapes from the boy's bag (where he has been playing possum) and terrorizes the girls until he is shot (off stage). In the production, the rodent is played by a motorized one (built on a radio control car), and when the cast and crew took their bows tonight, the possum and its operator were included, to cheers.

Annie, I take it possum fat is not good to eat? I don't know anything about cooking wild animals, but have read that, unlike the tasty or at least tolerable fat of the domestic pig, cow, and chicken, many wild animals have fat that is not tasty at all. True?

John, short answer is that I wouldn't unless in dire need. Other than that, what Annie said. I would stew it with vegetables or dumplings (or both).

I have eaten a lot of wild meat, but i don't think i could gag down a possum. I don't think there is any animal that stinks like possum does.

I've always heard that it was possum stew when cooked. As for cutting it up, I don't have a clue. The wild animal eats stuff that some of us would gag at so it could taste off to us. It's all what you were brought up with. I don't think a possum would be any different that a wild hog. Except most people feed the hog corn to get the wild taste out of it.
If I was hungry I would eat it!

I don't know about possum, but I enjoyed hearing about a former coworker's neighbor. My coworker had some land in Arkansas, which she ultimately built a house and moved to. A neighbor family there was totally self sufficient. They grew and hunted all their food. The patriarch ate squirrel and eggs for breakfast every day. He lived to be 102 years old. I don't know if they ate possum, though, or if they did, how they prepared it.

Sally

This is from Arkansas in an old American Cook Book with recipes from each state. I have never cooked a 'possum but would probably follow the prep directions listed here and cut it up and stew it with vegetables and dumplings.

ROAST OPOSSUM WITH YAMS

To prepare opossum, clean but do not skin. Immerse in water just below the boiling point. When hair pulls out easily, remove from water. Scrape off hair while washing repeatedly with cool water. Remove small red glands in small of back and under each foreleg between the shoulder and rib. If the opossum appears to be full grown, it should be precook end in simmering salted water for about one hour. Then remove and wipe dry.

Season inside with salt and pepper. Stuff lightly with buttered crumbs seasoned with diced cooked bacon and onions. Sew opening. Place in open roasting pan. Surround with peeled raw sweet potatoes. Roast in preheated 350 degree oven for 1 1/2 hours, or until potatoes and meat are tender. Baste occasionally with melted butter, lard or bacon drippings mixed with a little Worcestershire sauce. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

This post was edited by ruthanna on Sun, Nov 24, 13 at 8:50

John, it's much like venison I guess, I'm told that possum fat adds a "gamey" flavor. The only time I've had possum was when Aunt Lulabelle cooked one. In my family the rule is "if you shoot it, you eat it". One of her grandkids shot a possum, for no apparent reason, but she made him clean it, then she cooked it and they ate it. He never shot one again, LOL.

I do know that you can buy them, as well as raccoon, in Detroit at the Eastern Market.

I've been poor enough that sometimes dinner was whatever someone could shoot, so we've eaten everything from muskrat to porcupine. I've probably eaten possum and just didn't know it because if you're hungry enough, you don't ask, you eat or you go without.

Annie

This post was edited by annie1992 on Sun, Nov 24, 13 at 20:56

Ruthanne beat me to it. I have an old (wwII) cookbook from my grandmother. There are possum receipes! I will take some photos of the recipes and notes in the book and post today or tomorrow. Some of the recipes in the book make me feel ill.

My late father grew up during the depression. The experience stayed with him his entire life and, I believe, in certain ways, still influences me. I have tremendous respect for the people with the inner resources to survive abject privation. If you run a web search for possum recipes, you will find information about parasite removal and other gruesome things and opinions, some mirth and some horror, but an interesting search. I find the idea horrid, but desperation breeds behaviors one would otherwise never consider.

LOL. It's an option in my recipe for Brunswick Stew. I stick with the chicken.

Here's a link to some recipes, from some people who probably know what they're talking about.

Charlie Sommers' way of preparing possum:

Charlie says possum should never be skinned. Like a pig, a possum should be scalded and scraped. The skin helps hold in the delicious possum juices and makes an admirable crackling. Leave the possum whole. After scalding and scraping, the possum should be gutted and washed. While scalding use water at a temperature of approximately 160F, if your water is too hot the hair will be "set" rather than loosened and you will have a mess on your hands. If you can plunge your hand into the water 3 times but are leery of the 4th time your temperature is about right. Stuff your possum with sweet potatoes and sew him closed. Bake in about a 350F oven until tender; time will vary depending on the age of the possum (try for young possums). Serve with pinto beans, turnip greens, and glasses of Jack Daniels, if you must have dessert he suggests persimmons or paw paws.

Charlie says he got the method of cleaning possum from William Hill who was born in Tennessee about 1870.

Here is a link that might be useful: Possum recipes from Mason County WV

I remember an aunt who insisted that the only way to enjoy eating a possum was to catch it alive and feed it well (and with clean food) for several days to purge the taste and aroma left by its usual diet of carrion and offal.

After that, I think she baked or braised the meat. I know I ate it as a child, but have no memory of it.

Do let us know if you decide to keep a caged possum in your garden for a week or so. The ones I have known drooled through their snarls as I approached them!

I must admit, I'd rather like to try one again--and I am sure I would remember it this time.

I remember once having possum when we were little. We were at a family friends house and he offered us some stew. After eating the stew he told us what it was. What I remember was it was greasy and not very good.

My parents lived in Chicago during the Depression.
I am in awe of the things they did trying to keep themselves
And my brother & sister healthy and fed.
Food was so hard to come by!
I don't think they ever ate 'possum,
(I wonder if there are/were any in the Chicago suburbs?)
But from their stories,
I know one will eat just about anything if hungry enough!

While I personally did not go through it,
I, like Kitchendetective, have the deepest respect
for those that had the inner resources to survive!
I also feel like their experiences have had a profound
And continuing influence on my life and how I live it.

Hats off to these kids and their play!

Rusty

Here is a possum recipe from a book they used in researching the play:

My son's character is an Oklahoma farmer who is losing his farm to the bank. He starts drinking and become abusive to his children. The dust kills their last calf and the bank takes their last cow and the land. The farmer, his wife and three children, and their two cousins whose mother has just died, take the family's truck and head to Oregon via California.

Several other groups also head west. A Jewish insurance broker and his family who are being threatened by Klansmen in Ohio; two black sharecropper children who are homeless after their mother dies and the land is sold; four children who are sent to find their aunt in Oregon, after their parents can no longer feed them; a Mexican family from Texas; and various other ragamuffins (there were a lot of kids in this play!) Some travel in relative comfort, driving across the desert. Others have to ride the rails as hobos, scrounging work and food. Most of them reach a corporate farm camp in California, where the foremen are cruel but the camp store manager is kindly.

Fear not, all the migrants reach their destination. Some find farm work in Oregon, some reach Portland, the Jewish family goes to Los Angeles and the Mexican family is reunited with their father in California .

My son's character, with help from his strong wife and eldest son, gets his family safely to Oregon where they start a new life. Basically, he plays Pa Joad from "The Grapes Of Wrath", although to a happier ending.

I just realized that he hasn't read that book: something we'll try to correct. As a matter of fact, I haven't read it for many decades myself, and I'm guessing I'll find the play parallels Steinbeck's story in many ways. They watched the movie as part of their project.

I've never eaten possum (and have no desire to change that), but my grandparents, born around the turn of the last century, talked about it often. They said it should be roasted with sweet potatoes to soak up the grease.

I would have to agree with braising. I might soak it a bit in milk first and then sear/braise it. I'd use tomatoes in that braising so it'd break it down. With all this talk of grease though, makes me think of fatty duck. I see now, your recipe of ways to kill off bad stuff. Freeze it? Whoa. No possum for me, thanks!