From Recipes From The Schoolhouse Near The Old Spring compiled in 1984 by the Dillingersville Union School and Church Association Ladies Auxiliary in Zionsville, PA:
To roast oppossum [sic], parboil; season with salt and pepper. Chop the liver fine, to which add bread crumbs, 1 onion (minced) and a little parsley. Moisten with water and use as drippings and baste frequently. Serve with gooseberry catsup or special cherries and gravy made from pan drippings and browned flour. Some prefer applesauce with oppossum [sic] and it may be garnished with fried apples or served whole with a roast apple in its mouth.
The next recipe down tells us woodchucks and raccoons can be prepared in the same manner, and I'm not even touching the calves brains recipe that follows them.
What in the world were they thinking?
This cookbook was handed down to me from our dearly beloved Grammy Schlicher in the early '90s as I set up house. It was compiled by her peers as they were watching their ways of living being left behind. Grammy lives on the family farm in rural Pennsylvania, and my father-in-law is the fifth generation still keeping it going.
This recipe is a great example of a wise saying: Food for the stomach, and the stomach for food. I'm not sure any sweaty farmer in the early 1900s came into their home after a long day craving opossum (or maybe they did!), but they knew their bellies were empty and needed filled. They ate what they had, and meat was meat. This generation might have gotten the lard part wrong in their cooking, but they knew the body needed stuff to run on, and they knew some source of protein would serve that purpose in giving energy and filling the stomach. The wonderful myriad of flavors and textures we have at our fingertips is amazing and delectable. We don't need to worship the taste of food, though. Sometimes, you just gotta eat to live.