# Muskrat



## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Many would find eating a muskrat odd, but IMO they can be as good or better table fare as any sagebrush-flavored cottontail rabbit. There are many ways to cook muskrat. Here's a recipe taken off the internet I used on an adult rat:

Make sure all the fat and glands are removed, especially in the armpits. Cut the muskrat into serving size pieces and the soak overnight in salted water with a splash of vinegar.

INGREDIENTS:
1 muskrat (all fat and glands removed)
6 oz - salt pork or bacon
1/4 cup - celery, chopped
1/2 cup - onions, sliced
1/2 of a Jalapeno pepper, chopped
1 - 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 - 12 oz can tomato soup
black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:
> Cut the rat in pieces and then soak overnight in salted water with a splash of vinegar.
> Fry bacon about half-way and save the grease. Chop bacon when cool.
> Coat meat with flour and then brown in bacon grease. Remove to the bottom of a casserole dish.
> Sauté chopped bacon, celery, onions, and Jalapeno pepper in bacon grease for 10 minutes.
> Mix tomato soup and tomato sauce. 
> Pour sautéed mixture over the muskrat, and then cover with tomato soup mix (Don't add water to the soup). Add freshly ground black pepper.
> Bake, covered, for 2 hours at 350° F or until tender.
> Serve with rice or mashed potatoes


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## utahgolf (Sep 8, 2007)

what's one animal you won't cook and eat?


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## Kevin D (Sep 15, 2007)

wyogoob said:


> Many would find eating a muskrat odd, but IMO they can be as good or better table fare as any cottontail rabbit.


I gotta agree with you on this one goob. Some critters like racoon ain't made for eating in my opinion, but "marsh hare" aka muskrat, is surprisingly good.


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

Goob i think id eat a chit samich if you made it.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Kevin D said:


> wyogoob said:
> 
> 
> > Many would find eating a muskrat odd, but IMO they can be as good or better table fare as any cottontail rabbit.
> ...


Yeah, I don't go outta my way to cook a ****. Too much work. But they're edible.

One of my best friends was a trapper. He would keep the backs out of medium-size rats and eat them 1 or 2 times a week. The backs include the tenderloins, have little or no fat, no glands, and are the most tender. Some times I'd help him run the traps and we'd fill up on rat backs and milk gravy on bread. Good stuff, great times.....high fur prices.


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## NHS (Sep 7, 2007)

utahgolf said:


> what's one animal you won't cook and eat?


I gotta know the answer to this one as well Goob. Is there a critter out there that you refuse to eat?


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

NHS said:


> utahgolf said:
> 
> 
> > what's one animal you won't cook and eat?
> ...


I may have to plead the 5th on that one. Boy, the stories I could tell.

I guess I'm not much of an insect guy and I'm passing on cow eyeballs. The crazy Frenchman eat eyeballs. I am a little curious though.


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## utahgolf (Sep 8, 2007)

have you cooked up a yote before or did I miss that thread?


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

utahgolf said:


> have you cooked up a yote before or did I miss that thread?


No, but I have eaten red fox.

I did nuisance trapping for our family doctor back in Illinois. The guy was something else. He laid for 2 days, gutshot, on some beach in Italy during WW II. Kinda had a different approach to life after that. He would try anything. He'd cook woodchuck, skunk, beaver, dog, ****, muskrat, opossum, whatever, and always offered me free samples. He cooked a red fox once. It wasn't very good.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

I'm bumping this thread. 

A Spring time rat feeding on fresh roots can be quite flavorful.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Muskrat has an "earthy" flavor similar to an over-aged wild mushroom that you forgot to wash.

A pointer: don't forget to remove that nasty gland in the rat's armpit.



uh...top of the page

.


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## elkmule123 (Aug 14, 2013)

Wow, I wouldn't have thought the meat would be that red. Then again, I wouldn't have thought to eat a muskrat.


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