A Recipe for... What???

I am periodically reminded of my mother’s rather quirky sense of humor, and it happened again today.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving meal and fellowship with our friends, and we came home with turkey and some dressing. I thought I had a recipe for leftover turkey that my mother had sent me, so I started looking through the old recipe box for it. And when I say “old recipe box,” I really do mean “old.”

Once when we were there on vacation, my mother decided to go through her recipes and get rid of the ones she no longer wanted. She also decided to replace the old metal recipe box that she had used for years and years with a new and improved model.

Well, I wasn’t about to let that old recipe box go out with the trash, so I rescued it and brought it home.

Now it really did need to be thrown out. It was in bad shape then and it is in even worse shape now...

with lots of rust spots and flaking paint, but it is one of those things inexorably linked to my mom and adventures with her in the kitchen. It is precious to me, and so it stays and I use it.

I have quite a few recipes from her, written in her beautiful handwriting, and so I started
trolling through these recipe cards looking for the turkey recipe, and to my surprise, I found a recipe for Stuffed Roast Raccoon. I am almost positive she sent it to me as a joke.
 
Stuffed Roast Raccoon
1 lb sweet potatoes, mashed
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup bread crumbs
2 apples, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup butter, melted;
Salt and pepper
4-5 pound young raccoon

Mix stuffing and set aside. Wash raccoon, dry, cut off extra fat, stuff, and sew opening shut. Bake 325 for 3-4 hours.

Here are some young raccoons getting into trouble.

They are very cute when they are little, but we have had some unhappy experiences with adult raccoons, and it wouldn’t bother me if Richard were to shoot one. I’m not sure I would want to eat it though.

Now on the other side of the raccoon recipe is a recipe for stewed squirrel. I did cook a squirrel once, and it was good, if one doesn’t mind picking through tiny bones and is careful not to bite into the bullet. But getting the skin off was so hard that I never wanted to do it again. I have since learned there is an easy way to get the skin off – if I can believe the You-Tube video I saw. We are overrun with squirrels this year, so I just may try that recipe.