Goodbye, Groundhogs

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

The best meat-saving weapon far a markswoman (or - man) to use is a .22 rifle. Just carefully stalk your garden raider until you can be sure of a clean and humane head shot. (Or use the baited live trap I talked about earlier ... but then, of course, you'll still have to kill Me beast)

Chuck Steaks

No matter what way you catch your supper, it'll taste a lot better if you bleed and clean the woodchuck immediately. One of my favorite recipes begins, "Have someone else clean your freshly killed groundhog" ... but, fortunately, the job is easier than that line implies. Bleed the carcass by cutting off its head and hanging it upside down. Then remove the paws, slit the skin near the middle of the back, and slip the hide from the body.

Next, discard the innards. Be sure to cut off the tear shaped musk glands. These gray or an sacks He on the small of the marmot's back and directly behind its forelegs.

If your groundhog is stuffed with pre-winter plumpness, you can chill the carcass and scrape the fat off with a spoon. Then, cut the meat up into nice, eating-size sections. (At this point, you'd best tenderize an older "toughie" by some prolonged freezing or parboiling.)

The last step is to soak the meat for a day or two to get rid of any gamy taste. You can fancy up the basic marinade-salt water-by adding vinegar, red wine, onion, garlic, sage, thyme, bay leaves, or all of the above ... depending on how much gaminess you want out and "familiar" flavor you want in.

A Complete Meal

When all that preparation's done, you can roast, bake, fry, or stew your viands the same way you'd do chicken. Of course, the flavor's different ... but that's fine by me. I wouldn't swap a good groundhog for a case of the barnyard bird. And what's more, I always serve my woodchuck flanked by fresh garden produce: vegetables that probably wouldn't be on my plate ... if the groundhog weren't there, too.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print