Raccoon Goes Haute in a Blaze of Gory
Ranger Rick was the first magazine to which I had a subscription. (Mother Jones was the second.) Perhaps that’s why I’ve always had an affinity of sorts for raccoons. And so while they frequently scare the living hell out of my girlfriend and her sister in the parking lot behind our apartment (which is in a building that abuts federal parkland on three sides), I actually dig the little fellas.
But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t eat one if I accidentally backed over him. Thankfully, I have a template (well, besides the one I might have used — the fried squirrel recipe in my 60’s edition of Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook) to follow in case one of Rick’s peers were to meet his unfortunate demise under my UniRoyal, courtesy of Monica Eng in today’s Chicago Tribune.
Eng’s friend acquired a bargain-basement raccoon carcass, bringing it to Moto on the city’s west side. There, the kitchen sliced, diced, simmered, and braised said raccoon until it offered up to Eng this brilliant recreation of a roadkill scene:
That is nothing short of staggering brilliance. Stunning. I can only guess that Moto chefs must have looked at a current craze (i.e., chefs cooking and writers and travel hosts downing bats, balls, brains, & blood), seen it had clearly jumped the shark, and applied culinary standards to it (i.e., presentation, whimsy) in order to rein it in and make it something fresh and new. Bravo!
More from the Trib (including video) here and here. Moto site here.
One comment posted
Posted by: » Quote of the Day - 01/27/2008
[...] the whole thing here. [...]
Post a comment