Raccoons are like a fat pig when it comes to cooking them. The best way for mid size and smaller coons (under 15 pounds) is to roast them. Now the trick to cooking coons is to have the meat above the heat so the fat can drip down.For example, use a barbeque grill or place it in the oven on a grill above a pan to catch the grease. Cut as much fat off as you can, cook allowing most of the grease to melt off. Apply a light coating of barbeque sauce. Now you have some great eating.
Now on to other cooking methods for raccoons and beaver. Young beaver under 35 pounds are awesome on the grill, and so is muskrat. Parboil the meat for 10 minutes allow to cool and strip off the meat from the bones. Take that meat and place it in your favorite stew recipe. I really like it in white navy beans. Let it simmer all day. This makes a nice meal when you come in from the cold. With beaver, another way is to bake in the oven at 350 F, cover with Lipton onion soup mix. Here a simple beaver Chili recipe: Parboil and strip the meat off the bones. Add the meat to the rest of the chili ingredients. If you use a good chili recipe on beaver, most folks can’t tell that that they are not eating beef. Another one that is always a safe bet is to parboil, strip the meat off the bones, and simmer in Cream of Mushroom soup all day. Serve over fried potatoes or rice. Season to taste. I like chopped onions, lemon pepper, salt, a little garlic, and green peppers. This works in stews or soups. Or you can parboil, strip the meat off the bones, roll the meat in flour and fry it. Again, I use chopped onions, lemon pepper, salt, a little garlic, and green peppers.
My sister makes the best turtle soup. Now big snapping turtles have tough meat. She boils it overnight. Drain. Strip the meat off and then add the normal soup ingredients and let it simmer all day. It is awesome. Just about anything can be made to taste good this way. 🙂 Play around and try different things. You will find a great way to cook most wild game. – Buckshot