Cream of Muskrat Casserole

Some up scale restaurants in Chicago (?) served muskrat as swamp rabbit in the 1920s - 30s. Beaver tail is supposed to be delicous.

Zero in on the 'rat' portion of the critter's name. Now, read the recipe again....

I've helped trap these things and, yes, they're meat but I think I'd get a whole life long love affair going with some veggies first.

Don't tell The Captain and Tennille about this...

The WU diet is in full swing now I see: cream of muskrat here and down page calf brains and onions. I'm not sure but I think I may be off my feed for a while... :sick:

>>I see: cream of muskrat here and down page calf brains and onions.

Yeah, I've been on a weird food kick recently, partially motivated by the fact that I recently discovered that my local supermarket carries a whole bunch of exotic meats, in a freezer tucked away in the corner of the store. So I had bison steak last night. Plan on kangaroo burgers next weekend, and ostrich the week after that.

I had bison steak last night. Plan on kangaroo burgers next weekend, and ostrich the week after that.

Ok or deer but rodents are gross.

We are omnivores, BUT you can't get me to eat mystery meat like spam or raw fish. Muskrat should be just like rabbit, which I haven't tried etheir.

I have eaten garden snails ~ ESCARGOT ~ but not again!

I've never had muskrat. I've had squirrel, rabbit, dear, groundhog, bear. Properly prepared, it was all very good. But then, my mother was raised to prepare such things. She is long passed, so cannot ask her about it. It does sound good. I've never had brains, either, but my grandfather like squirrel brains. The recipe does sound interesting. As I get older, I get tired of the same old thing all the time.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Bacon Fat

Uncle Jedd, Granny wont let me have seconds on the mushrat.

Growing up in a small village in Vermont, I had squirrel pie, rabbit stew, pheasant and deer. I hunted most everything except deer.

The Supply Officer on the ship arranged for Hasenpfeffer once Easter dinner.

I'm pretty adventurous, but some of the stuff I tried in Japan didn't so much taste bad, but the texture was just wrong. I don't do slimy very well.

I also passed on Balut(fertilized then fermented duck egg) when I was in the Philippines. I always figured that was just a joke on the tourists/Navy. As it was pre-Google, I didn't have the means to clarify.

The recipe left out the garnish - fresh picked Goldenrod.

Ever since the hateful muskrat was introduced to Europe from the Colonies, it's been on Belgian menus. Often it's there under the (somewhat inaccurate) name of "water rabbit", but it's there. I have yet to try it myself, but if the Belgians, as cooks second in Europe only to the Italians, eat it, I'm willing to believe it's good. Anyway, the d#&^ed vermin destroy our dikes, so the more end up in the pot the better.

You're not looking on the bright side of this, Richard, without the lowly muskrat you guys wouldn't have any place to stick your thumbs! 😛

Heh. Whoever wrote that story (some New Englander of Sassenach stock, IIRC) never saw a dike up close. Consider: if the water is coming in, and you stick your finger (or even a proper plug) in this end, what happens?

What??? You mean all those cold nights I walked the levies along the banks of the flood swollen Mississippi and saw those dudes lined up with their fingers plugging up muskrat and (worse yet) groundhog holes that they weren't doing any good?

Sure they were! They were keeping that many rednecks out of trouble...