Roast Possum

This is a transcription from one of my grandmother's recipe books, dated from the 1930s. It contained a number of game recipes (such as squirrel), but I thought this one was fun. Here is my transcription.

Ingredients

Dressing the possum.

• 1 possum
• 1 cup salt
• cold water

For the stuffing

• 1 large onion, minced
• 1 tablespoon fat
• opossum liver, chopped
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 1 sweet red pepper, chopped
• Dash worcestershire sauce
• 1 hard cooked egg, chopped
• salt.

Directions

The opossum is a very fat animal with peculiarly flavored meat. To dress, immerse in very hot water (not boiling) for 1 minute. Remove and use a dull knife to scrape off hair so that skin is not cut. Slit from bottom of throat to hind legs and remove entrails. Remove head and tail if desired. Wash thoroughly inside and out with hot water. Cover with cold water to which has been added 1 cup of salt and let stand overnight. Drain off the salted water and rinse with clean, boiling water.

Brown the onion in fat. Add liver and cook until liver is tender. Add bread crumbs, pepper, worcestershire sauce, egg, salt and water to moisten.

Stuff the opossum and place in roaster; add 2 tablespoons water and roast in a moderate oven. baste every 15 minutes with drippings. Skim fat from pan gravy; serve gravy separately, with baked yams or sweet potatoes for 10.

My transcription might be flawed, so here is a photo of the original.

Recipe

bon appetit