Do you really eat Coon? (Dallas, Paris: restaurants, area, rain)

[Hoosier]

No, she is from Houston, I am from Minnesota (the one near Canada). And yeah we have a funny accent up here too!

[lonestar2007]

Well, I guess I'm going to sound like a hick, although I don't consider myself as such. But, in this instance, she is not pulling your leg, although the only area of Texas I've ever heard of people eating coon is East Texas.

When we were kids, we live outside of some pretty small towns, and there was a lot of nighttime hunting going on. Now, I hope this doesn't get me in trouble, I don't mean a thing by it, it's just this is the way it was. I never heard of any white folks eating coon or possum, but I had cousins that would go out and shoot them at night then take them down to colored town and sell them, where, yes, they were eaten. They told us they fried them and also baked them with sweet potatoes (now, I know this is going to sound like Granny, on the Beverly Hillbillies, but that's how they said they fixed them).

Now as to squirrels, well, we had them fried, with dumplings, etc. I'll always remember our family reunions always had a big, black pot filled with squirrel stew, open an open fire.

As far asrabbits, my daddy had my sister and I (I'm a girl, too) out rabbit hunting with .22's when we were just kids in elementary school. There are certain times of the year when they have what we called wolves, which all that means is they have worms along their back. This is not restricted to just rabbits, it affects deer, beef cattle, etc., so think about it, people think nothing of eating that big, juicy T-bone steak, but they don't think about the fact, that if you don't keep catttle wormed, well, you'll see large bumps (wolves, which like I said,are worms) along their backs, too. The best time to go rabbit hunting in my opinion is in the winter. We always hunted cottontail, but one time when we lived down by Paris, they had what is called a swamp rabbit in that area. It's larger than a cottontail, but smaller than a jackrabbit and has a really good flavor.

There are plenty of people who raise rabbits for meat. Matter of fact, go to the Fat Stock Show over in Fort Worth when they're showing the rabbits, and you can find out all you'll ever want to know on meat rabbits. My sister used to raise them.

When I got older, I read where squrrel and rabbit were in the rodent family. After that I never ate either. Matter of fact, once I looked at them after they were skinned, I could see the resemblance. Ugh! Made me sick.

We grew upon venison, quail, etc. I never did like dove or duck. They are both dark meat and duck is just downright greasy, but my aunt (same one who always made the squirrel and dumplings), would fix duck and dumplings, and everyone liked it.

I've never eaten wild hog, but I had people said it was good. I would think it would have to do with where they have been eating and also how they were killed, if it was a clean shot, i.e. If you make a hog mad (which shooting it and not killing it right off would would certainly be grounds for pissing it off), the meat is unfit to eat. Sounds weird, but it's true. They let off some hormone in their body and it will ruin the meat. Our cousin used to raise hogs and when it was time to butcher one, he would pour out a bunch of feed, and while the hog was eating, he'd take his gun and shoot it square between the eyes. Hog never knew what hit him.

The way meat tastes from an animal has so much to do with what it eats. Now days, it's a big thing to advertise angus beef. Granted, some breeds are leaner than others, some have larger bones, etc. But, you can take a holstein, cross it with a brahma, and feed it out right, and have some darn good beef. You can take a black angus, range feed it, butcher it and wonder if you got a longhorn on your hands.

This applies to fish, also. A catfish out of a stocktank will taste completely different than one caught in a running (such as Brazos) river. A bluecat will have a different flavor depending on what lake it cones from.

Depends on what area deer come from as to how they taste. What they eat, water they drink, all makes a difference. Of course, mule deer are going to taste different than whitetail.

I've always heard rattlesnake tastes like chicken. Makes no difference to me if it does or not, I'll stick with chicken, thank you very much. One time, my boyfriend brought rattlesnake over. He had already skinned and cleaned it and had it cut up, and wanted me to cook it! Huh, I don't think so. So, he said he'd cook it. I told him he'd better go buy a skillet, cause he sure wasn't using mine!

We use to go down to the stock tank at night and gig frogs. Now, they do taste a lot like chicken. It's funny, if you don't get the ligaments cut right, they'll sure jump out of the pan when you're frying them.

Now, come on folks, own up. I know I'm not the only one who knows this stuff, let's hear from you.

[crbcrbrgv]

My grandpa is from St. Paul. Oh you betcha he has a funny accent when he talks to me sittin' on the davenport, ya!

[momof2dfw]

Yep, frog giggin. Been there, done that I have not eaten frog legs in YEARS!!!!! I remember my dad frog giggin and the burlap bags they used. I've never tried duck as I don't like dark meat. Dove is good lord, its just plain SMALL. You'd be there all day trying to get enough meat off of them to make yourself full. I think buffalo chicken wings have more meat on them than a dove does. I've heard the same thing about rattlesnake but as you I stick to chicken. If I'm gonna eat something that "tastes like" I might as well eat the real thing . My grandparents had chickens and pigs. We never slaughtered the pigs but I don't know what they did with them. They never had a whole lot just like 3 or 4. They had a FULL hen house though. My favorite thing as a young girl was gathering the eggs. That is till one day this mean ol rooster attacked me and ran me out of there. I went running to the house w/ that rooster behind me all the way. My mom did not believe me so she went out and came back running and cussing that rooster out just as fast. LOL!!!!

The worst thing though about being out in the country was the snakes. My grandparents lived in East Texas during this time down out of Athens. We had a dog we kept down there since he LOVED to run. He was a big ol baby but looked just like a wolf but was an Alaskan Malamute. They had some cats running the place to keep rodents down which in turn helps keep down the snakes. That dog wanted to play w/ those cats so bad he would sit and cry at the bottom of the tree they would run up. He LOVED swimming in the stock tank. Sadly, a snake got him

Okay, what do you know about mink rabbits? I think that is what they are called. I ran into someone years ago that their kid was raising one for the FFA. It was the most beautiful thing.

[Hoosier]

Originally Posted by crbcrbrgv

My grandpa is from St. Paul. Oh you betcha he has a funny accent when he talks to me sittin' on the davenport, ya!

Oh yeah, you betcha!! It's funny how different the accents are on both sides of the Twin Cities. Most times you can tell people who live on the St. Paul side of the cities because their stronger Wisconsin accents over there. We live on the Minneapolis side and my wife works on the St. Paul side so it's funny sometimes to listen to her. But you definitely get the long "O" sound in many of the words. I think that long "O" comes from North Dah-K"O"tah. That's how us Minn-ah-s"O"thans say th"O"se words. Of course some people have stronger accents than others. We are transplants here but somehow have picked up the accent and blend right in. Now if our last name was Anderson and we were Lutheran, heck nobody would ever think we weren't from here! (For you non-Minnesotans....probably all of you eh?...Anderson is a popular name here as we have primarily Swedes and Norwegians here...and if you're not Lutheran in Minnesota then what the heck are yah?).

[CMDallas]

is OUR reputation really that bad?
No I've never met anyone who eats raccoon, I know people who have eaten a lot grosser stuff but thats cause I'm Racially Diverse... But uhh for the Texas population at large... eating raccoon is just as popular as eating purple Hippos with orange stripes... thats not true... but I mean as every has said... no one eats raccoon... or not many people.

[I LOVE NORTH CAROLINA]

Originally Posted by CMDallas

is OUR reputation really that bad?
No I've never met anyone who eats raccoon, I know people who have eaten a lot grosser stuff but thats cause I'm Racially Diverse... But uhh for the Texas population at large... eating raccoon is just as popular as eating purple Hippos with orange stripes... thats not true... but I mean as every has said... no one eats raccoon... or not many people.

I do.........

[Sam I Am]

Originally Posted by Hoosier_guy

I have a serious question for you all. Does the majority of Texas really eat coon? I'm asking this because I have a dear friend who lives in Houston and tells us they love to eat BBQ coon.

At first I thought she was joking, but she was serious. Bein' from way up north...almost to Canada we do not dine on raccoon. And seriously...does it really taste like chicken? BTW, this is NOT a joke, but a serious question.

Don't know about Texas, but in Arkansas we eat coon...it's pretty fatty, though, and has to be cooked just right. Matter of fact, there is a fundraiser, the Gillette Coon Supper - here's some pix from some years ago...and it's listed with the Library of Congress, so it's no joke!

Fourth Quarter Productions

This started out as an effort to raise money for the football team in Gillette but has quickly become a political "must" where the state politicians turn up and stump. Look who turned up a few years back...it's held in January, I think. There's always a face or two there - kind of interesting stuff. Seems to primarily bring out the Democrat bigwigs and their supporters.

See, hoosier, we have a whole night devoted to just coon eatin'!

[Mom2Feebs]

Okay, well, we all learned something today LOL! Some people have been found to eat raccoon here (why am I not surprised it is ILNC? ) but it is definitely not a "Texas Thing". Thank the Lord! LOL!!

[nativeDallasite]

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

On a side note: The ever so popular town of Frisco that is located north of Dallas was once home of the "Fightin Coons". As the town grew from a small, sleepy cotton town that was WAY OUT in podunkville north of Dallas to become a mecca for out of state transplants they changed the high schools team mascot from "Coon" to "Raccoons". I still think it is rather funny that all of these people that view themselves "better than" are living in a former cotton town known for "Coons".

I remember that! My parents looked at moving to Frisco in the early 1990s and my brother (who was still in high school) was horrified by the prospect of becoming a Frisco Fighting Coon.