Notes:
This was originally posted to the discussion forum under "Fishing Regulations
and Related Issues in response to BigEfromLC's query about the edibility of
coots posted that he as a response to Pallidin's FWC Report Jan. 2 -Jan 8, 04
NE Region. A number of people suggested I post it as an article. It's not about
fishing or even saltwater, but here it is!
Article:
BigE, you ask if coots are edible? Hmmm . . . let me tell you about the Great
Coot Pot Pie Disaster.
Some 30 years ago as a UF graduate student, I was tasked with going out to Lake
Lochloosa and shooting a boatload of coots for my boss's research project. It
was really kinda cool. He had a research specimen collection permit that
allowed me to pretty much blast away at will . . . no bag limits & no seasons.
Being 22 years old and liking to kill things with my new shotgun, I was in hog
heaven.
I returned to the boat ramp from my first collection trip with a pile of some
50 coots (did I say I liked to kill things with my new shotgun?). An elderly
Cracker was sitting by the ramp with a beer, enjoying the usual follies. Upon
seeing my pile of coots, he asked what I was going to do with them. I told him
about my boss's research project (a survey of intestinal parasites of water
birds), and he allowed as how it was a shame we were gonna waste all that meat.
Astonished at the idea that the coots, which reeked of pond scum and worse,
actually might be edible, I asked him how I should fix 'em. He said to strip
off the breast meat and soak it overnight in vinegar. Then it would taste just
fine any way I wanted to cook it.
That evening, after carefully removing and preserving the guts for my boss, I
stripped off the breast meats from a dozen of the coot carcasses and
refrigerated them in bowl of vinegar overnight. I was not optimistic. However,
much to my surprise the pond scum smell was gone by the next morning!
I was puzzling over how best to cook the little morsels when my wife, Debby,
suggested we try the breast strips in her chicken pot pie recipe -- one of my
favorites. Now this recipe is fairly labor intensive, what with hand rolling
the crust, precooking a garden full of vegetables until tender, and draining
several cows of their cream. Nevertheless, we perservered, and by 10:00 AM two
gorgeous home made pot pies were baking in the oven.
We then decided to do a little shopping and return in time to have the pies for
lunch. The oven timer was set for 2 hours, and out the door we went. When we
returned home at noon, I should have been tipped off by the presence of our two
worthless dogs waiting out in the yard instead of snoozing away inside on the
couch.
When we opened the front door, we were met by an overwhelming fragrence that is
best described as "eau de putrid pond bottom." The whole house stank with the
smell of that green, slimy rotten stuff found on the bottom of a stagnant pond.
That cows have crapped in. Next to the week old 'possum carcass. Just
downstream from the outfall of the sewer plant. You get the picture.
The pies, however, looked wonderful when they came out of the oven. The crust
was perfectly browned and unblemished. I screwed up my courage and broke the
crust with a big serving spoon. Big mistake . . . I swear that every maggot in
Alachua County promptly gagged.
When I was in the Navy they had all of us do this drill where you went into a
chamber filled with tear gas, removed your gas mask, shouted out your name rank
and serial number, and marched out in an orderly fashion. Piece of cake
compared to what I experienced in my own kitchen that day. I would have been
branded a war criminal had I used the stuff in combat.
The offending pies were put out back for the dogs, all the windows to the house
were opened, and Debby and I went to a movie, having suddenly lost our interest
in lunch. The house was barely habitable when we returned that evening, and it
was nearly two weeks before the last of the fragrance from the Great Coot Pot
Pie Disaster dissipated.
Oh, and the dogs, who usually act like 4-legged garbage cans, never touched the
two pies I put out back. However, I now have a lot of respect for the
constitution of your basic garden ant.
