Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 April 1893 — How to Cook a ’Possum. [ARTICLE]

How to Cook a ’Possum.

Scald and scrape the hair off and clean in the ordinary way. Fill the carcass with small or sliccd-up sweet potatoes and si;w up with a few stitches of twine ■or course thread. Scoop out a hole in the giound large enough to hold your ’possum, wrap him well in green corn shucks, or, if they cannot be had, old shucks thoroughly wetted will do. Covei with one aud a half to two inches of dirt, build a good wood fire on him aud lot the fire burn down "to coals. In a half hour your ’possum, together with the sweet potatoes, will be done. It is a good plan to cook a ’possum this way at night and let it remain in the ground until next morning, when you can serve it for breakfast. When cooked in this manner the flesh is so tender that it just drops from the bone like a thoroughly stewed spring chicken. All the tine aroma of the meat is retained, which, with the delicate flavor imparted by the sweet potatoes, makes a dish that is absolutely delicious. While in Arkansas we also cooked a great many fish in this way. Indeed, it is the best way that I have ever found to cook fish, flesh, or fowl. The cowboys often roast a calf's head in this manner when out in camp, wrapping it up in wet gunny sack instead of corn shucks. Heavy brown paper thoroughly wet answers the purpose of wrapping first rate. —[Dallas News.