Dog Talk - George asked....

PossumCorner

"have you got possums down there?-
ever tried possum stew?-"

Yes to the possums, no to the stew, but the dogs live in hope:

Hey look Piper, something's up there ..



Move over Frodo, I'll get it



Darn, maybe if you stand on my shoulders



No good, you'll have to climb on the barbecue.





Meantime he just pretended they weren't there and went back to sleep.

CookieS

Where were those taken, and what kind of Opossum is that . its very cute, iN fl. we have the grey , (worm tailed) pointy faced Opossums.

System

your possum looks much nicer than ours-

I think ours is about the grossest looking mammal around-

as far as eating possum stew, I would rank that right up there with chittlins' (please, no offense to anyone-you are a better person than I if you can eat either)-

this is from wikipedia-

"The opossum was a favorite game animal in the United States in particular, the southern regions which have a large body of recipes and folklore relating to the opossum. Opossum was once widely consumed in the United States where available as evidenced by recipes in older editions of the Joy of Cooking. A favorite recipe from the southeast is "'possum and taters" which is parboiled opossum, roasted with sweet potatoes. In Dominica and Trinidad opossum is popular and can only be hunted during certain times of the year due to over-hunting; the meat is traditionally prepared by smoking then stewing. The meat is light and fine grained and the musk glands must be removed as part of preparation. The meat can be used in place of rabbit and chicken in recipes. The cousin of the opossum, the possum, found in Australia and New Zealand is consumed in a similar manner as its cousin."

oh yum-

george

ps thanks for posting the pics-

PossumCorner

CookieS wrote:

Where were those taken, and what kind of Opossum is that . its very cute, iN fl. we have the grey , (worm tailed) pointy faced Opossums.

These were taken on the deck of our house east of Melbourne in Australia. This one is a Brushtail Possum, about the most common kind. We have a few of the litttle Ringtails around also, but they are becoming slightly endangered becos of domestic cat predation. They are no relation to the American Opossums, totally different species. People are always complaining about the Brushies eating their garden roses and fruit, but I speak for the possums, they have just as much right to their dwindling habitat, so full power to them if they can adjust to life in the suburbs (not that Piper and Frodo see it that way).

PossumCorner

gefillmore wrote:

this is from wikipedia--

George I think the Wikipedia is making it up as it goes along. When possum was eaten in Australia it was in times of starvation, depression or desperation. (Aside from the original native Australian Aborigines: possums would have been part of their meat supply but were more important as a furskin supply). I was also told when I was working in New York that eating Opossums exists more in literature than it ever did in fact where an economic choice existed. (Maybe I have my head in the sand). Kangaroo meat is now generally available at supermarkets here though. Wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. Ghandi said that a country that trades in its own wildlife is morally bankrupt. He was a vegetarian so I guess he included eating the wildlife in that view.

System

gee, you mean everything I read on the internet isn't true?!-

well, if I had to eat possum stew, I would choose your possum over ours-yours is much cuter-