Processing Coon For Food

[FWS]

For you guys that sell frozen coon carcasses for human consumption how do you do it ? Gland removal, packaging, etc.

I need to save about a dozen for later use.

[cooter1]

I sell most of mine fresh, and I just take the hide off. If you are going to freeze them, I would remove all of the glands and the guts, leave the head on, and wrap in freezer paper. I don't know about where you are from, but down here you need to leave a foot on until your buyers trust you enough to know that you are not trying to sell them something else.

[redsnow]

Years ago we gave coon carcasses to a local "greasy-spoon, beer joint", they had a big annual coon feed, 2 or 3 times a winter. We always gutted them, rinsed em off, etc. Personally if I'm going to eat something/anything, I'd want it gutted, cleaned in a reasonable time. fish or critter. How you gonna skin a coon without getting crap all over the meat?

Almost positive the health dept. would shut a place down if the same "feed" took place today. I'll check.

[trappnman]

I never removed any glands-

medium or small coon is what you want for best flavor-

remove head, legs, wash and freeze- handle like any other game-

if for my consumption, all fat is removed before roasting

[garman]

Oct 9, 2009 6:14:49 GMT -6 trappnman said:

I never removed any glands-

medium or small coon is what you want for best flavor-

remove head, legs, wash and freeze- handle like any other game-

if for my consumption, all fat is removed before roasting

When I worked for the furbuyer back home that is exactly how we did it, many thousands a year. Maybe next year MFH can have a demo on that.

[Happy Plumber]

Any coon we ever processed for food was skinned first so we got no hair on the meat and the animal was still fresh. It also was usually a small one because they are more tender. We also cut all the meat off the bone and all the fat off the meat. It was slow cooked in a large roaster with about 2" of red table wine in the bottom for about 4 hours. Periodic basting of the meat was required. Before the last hour, we would put the vegetables, like potatoes , onions, celery, yellow beans, and seasoning in with the broth. We usually saved the coon pieces frozen ahead of time so we had enough for a feed. Never was any left over. HP

[trappincoyotes39]

pressure cooker and made BBQ coon. Like pulled pork. Cleaned well and quatered up legs and backbone where the loin meat is. shredded the meat and mixed with BBQ sauce and kept in a slow cooker on low served on a bun with baked beans.

Same method but no BBQ sauce and made up stuffing and mixed shredded and cut coon meat with stuffing mixture and it was a coon/stuffing sandwich very tasty too.

[FWS]

I've cooked a bunch of em' over the years.

What I was wanting to do was process and freeze for later use, and not have quality deteriorate too much.

Glands and fat were a question.

I'm thinking sectioned up, vacuum packed and wrap those in freezer paper. After a very good wash of each carcass.

They're for my personal use, not for sale.

Always worth asking guys who do something for commercial resale there's usually some good info available.

[mostinterestingmanintheworld]

They have some kind of a roundworm around here that they warn of.

Joel

[bobwendt]

joel, that is no more risk than it ever has been. coons have always had them and every coon in the world is loaded. as long as you don`t eat raw coon crap or raw coon meat by the pound, no worries. one of those playing the disease card deals. simple wash hands and cook meat same as any animal and zero risk.

[Zagman]

How do they taste? I mean really, honestly? Not like ducks and geese and deer that you eat at your buddy's house. He shot it. He prepared it. So it must taste great, right? Nope. Covered in hair. Bloodshot. Gamey to all get out. Leave his place and go to McDonald's drive-thru to get the bad taste out of your mouth....

Sure, I have had ducks and geese and venison that was the best tasting stuff I have ever had.....but, unless I do the work, more times than not, dissappointed in the results.

So, how do they taste?

MZ

[bobwendt]

off the wall from any other meat, domestic or wild. like lamb maybe, relative to other meats. either you lke or don`t, and no in between. can`t say coon taste like zzz,as they taste like nothing else I can think of.

[trappnman]

if roasted, they taste pretty much like a rich roast beef- if pulled, like any other pulled meat.

[FWS]

So it must taste great, right? Nope. Covered in hair. Bloodshot. Gamey to all get out.

Guys need to take better care of their game, both in the field and in processing and preserving it. Hence my questions on coons.

And the way it's prepared can make all the difference.

As a commercial fisherman I cringe watching a lot of sport fishermen "take care" of their catch, I see guys come in with a 100lb mako shark that's ungutted and been lying on the deck for 8 hours. The flesh quality deteriorates fast like that, when they come over the stern roller we process them immediately, head off, tail off, fins off, gutted and straight into the ice.

When I shoot cottontails they get skinned and cleaned within an hour at most and go into slushed ice in a chest.

[trappnman]

gut cottontails immediately after shooting- no fuss, no mess-

hold by head so belly is facing you, and shake vigorusly towords lower legs. Then take rabbit and start at rib cage, hand over hand squeezing as hard as you can. we you can squeeze no further, bend knees and snap your forearms down hard on your bended knees-

all the guts fly out behind you, leaving little blood and a 5 sec gutting job. I just take legs and back, so heart etc left in rib cage matters not. You will have

[Bigfoot]

I trim the easy fat fat off . then I boil it off the bone ,dump uff the water and greese, pick out the bones bag and freeze in portion size bags .
As far as the taste I love it .when I was growing up we would eat 30 a season easy . Coon and beaver were the choice meals until we butchered hogs . then fresh tenderloin was the top choice . Now my wife and daughters won,t even try it (both girls ate their weight in it when they were little ) so I don't fix it as much .
Coon meat is tender and very moist , not gamey in the least . prefer mine prepared as above then eaten with white bread and a little ketchup .

We take great pride in the way we process our venison butterfly steaking each muscle individualy . my wife won't help if there is any blood or off oder so everything is head shot and dressed in a timly manner . Given a choise between coon or deer I would take the coon every time .

[FWS]

. then I boil it off the bone ,dump uff the water and greese, pick out the bones bag and freeze in portion size bags .

Not a bad idea, I'll do some like that and vacuum pack portions for BBQ'd coon crockpot sandwiches.

With some ducks, like teal and wigeon, I breast them and then brine them in a marinade for a night then hot smoke them and vacuum bag several breasts and freeze them. Take them out as I want to make duck and sausage gumbo with the meat picked off the breastbone.