May 15, 2017

Smith Island cake and crab imperial get lots of attention for being traditional Maryland foods. But here are two items on many of our forefathers’ menus: raccoon and muskrat.

: April 7, 1946 – MUSKRATS – From Marsh to Market — Photo taken by Baltimore Sun Staff Photographer A. Aubrey Bodine.

: April 7, 1946 – MUSKRATS – From Marsh to Market — The muskrat was captured alive in a ground trap. As the trapper picked it up it attempted to bite him. The rat was about 12 inches in length, with an 8-inch tail. Photo taken by Baltimore Sun Staff Photographer A. Aubrey Bodine.

: January 4, 1936 – Muskrat pelts. Photo by Baltimore Sun Staff Photographer.

: Baltimore, MD-1/10/17 -Lou Fleming, Faidley’s Seafood manager, holds a frozen, skinned muskrat, $8, as longtime employee William Robertson looks on. Fleming, who can usually be found shucking oysters at the raw bar, has been with Faidley’s at Lexington Market since 1981. Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun

: CHURCH CREEK, MD–02/20/2007–Holding several caught muskrats by the tail, Ted Abbott shares laughs with his son T.J. after checking their muskrat traps on marshy grounds of the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge near Church Creek, Md. Ted Abbott is one of a few trappers who maintains his traps through a lease with the refuge. GLENN FAWCETT/SUN STAFF

: Photo dated 1957 depicting raccoon hunting. (Baltimore Sun archives)

: Photo dated 1965 depicting raccoon hunting. (Baltimore Sun archives)

: Photo dated 1965 depicting raccoon hunting. (Baltimore Sun archives)

: Paul Corun, former owner of Paul’s Market on Main Street in Ellicott City, MD., he sold rabbits, chickens, racoons, muskrats and other animals — live and fresh killed. He is shown in his cellar with the butcher block from the market which he worked in and then owned for a total of 45 years. Mandatory Credit Photo by Peggy Fox. (Photo scanned 03/19/2001) Handout Photo

: Paul Corun, former owner of Paul’s Market on Main Street in Ellicott City, MD., he sold rabbits, chickens, racoons, muskrats and other animals — live and fresh killed. Here he works in the garden on his Ellicott City property. Mandatory Credit Photo by Peggy Fox. (Photo scanned 03/19/2001) Handout Photo

: CHURCH CREEK, MD–02/20/2007–Ted Abbott removes mud from a muskrat trap hole in the marshy ground of the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge near Church Creek, Md. Abbott is one of a few trappers who maintains his traps through a lease with the refuge. GLENN FAWCETT/SUN STAFF

: BALTIMORE, MD–JAN. 24, 1996–Lou Fleming, seafood salesman at Faidley’s Seafood in Lexington Market, holds a tray of muskrats which the store sells. Photo by Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun

: CAMBRIDGE, MD, JANUARY 03, 2002 — Freshly trapped, already skinned, and apparently irrestable to many people on the eastern shore, these muskrats won’t last long at E.G. Webster and Son grocery store in Cambridge. Proprietor Roger Webster sold about 1,500 last year, and says he can’t keep the freshly trapped eastern shore delicacy in stock. DAVID HOBBY Sun Staff

: Baltimore, MD–Jan 27 96–Jim Officer (cq) from Highland MD enjoys his Muskrat at the Oyster Roast of The Eastern Shore Society of Baltimore which was held at the Tall Cedars of Lebanon Hall. They featured Oysters, pit beef, ham and of course the Muskrat, at times a staple food of the eastern shore and still a favorite of its natives. This is Officers second time trying muskrat.

: CHURCH CREEK, MD–02/20/2007–Holding several caught muskrats by the tail, T.J. Abbott, 16, walks through the charred (lower left), marshy grounds of the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge near Church Creek, Md. After a greuling hike into the wetlands, Abbott walks past a muskrat den, a common sight which dots the landscape. T.J.’s father, Ted Abbott, is one of a few trappers who maintains his traps through a lease with the refuge. GLENN FAWCETT/SUN STAFF

It doesn’t taste just like chicken. More like a spicy beef, the way Lou Fleming prepares it at Faidley’s Seafood.

The “it” would be raccoon meat, which Faidley’s has sold for generations, alongside muskrat, and of course the oysters and crabcakes for which the Lexington Market stalwart is known.

Raccoon consumption has dropped off significantly in the recent decades, says Bill Devine, owner of Faidley’s. “Those people that ate when they were young have died. And if McDonald’s had it on the menu, you’ve had five generations eating it.”

In 1991, Devine told The Sun, “I submit when the pilgrims landed, they weren’t handed a turkey, they were handed a muskrat.”

Fleming, the manager at Faidley’s, has been eating raccoon since childhood, the way his parents, from Virginia used to cook it. “That is a tradition you can’t find every day,” Fleming said. “Because nobody knows how to prepare it.” But Lou does.

Raccoon season is over now, but Fleming keeps some in the freezer. He presents a frozen specimen for curious customers. Everyone who walks by cranes their neck and has the same question. What is that?

Fleming points to the animal’s padded feet for the answer. By law, he says, the feet of a raccoon must be intact at the sale, to ensure that it’s not really a cat or a dog sold by some trickster trader. Faidley’s gets its raccoons from fur traders who trap the animals (along with muskrats) for their fur and sell the meat.

Today, Fleming estimates Faidley’s sells 400 raccoons per season. Devine says they once sold 10 times as many.

Fleming prepared one for us, soaking it overnight and then heavily seasoning it like a piece of beef. He slow-cooked it for several hours.

“I don’t cook the head because everybody’s scared of it,” he said with a sly grin. “You don’t want it looking back out at you while you eat it.”

He removes the raccoon from the oven – surrounded in potatoes, it looks like any other roast. Fleming’s anticipation is palpable.

“I know you want to taste it,” he said to a member of his staff.

She shakes her head. “No, I’ve never been that curious.”

“It’s only like beef. Just try it,” Fleming said. She didn’t budge.

“Chicken,” he said. “I’ve got a bunch of chickens working for me.”

There are those who may be reluctant to try raccoon. Perhaps you have unwittingly eaten some already. Fleming says he sells to a man who drives up from Washington, D.C. to buy around 40 raccoons each time. The man owns a number of Chinese restaurants on H Street. Fleming doesn’t think he puts “raccoon” on the menu.

Raccoon and muskrat: dying Baltimore culinary traditions

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