How NOT to skin a squirrel

[deforge1]

When I am in the woods and once in awhile during a public event I use this method, try it, you will like it.

Get a fire going, with a good flame. Gut the squirrel. take a sharpened stick or long cooking fork and skewer it. Hold over the flames, singing all the hair well. Scrape the rest of the hair off, using flame as needed. When fire dies to coals suspend the critter over the coals turning once in awhile until done. The skin will be pretty crisp by this time and all you have to do is peel the skin off hunk at a time to reveal some of the most moist, tender tree rat you have ever sunk your choppers into. You also get to eat the cheeks, eyes (if you want) and brains with this method.

Works with most any small critter

D
AMM #1622
Hiveranno

 

[Stumpkiller]

Sounds . . . easy.

Ever hear of hobo chicken?

Start a fire. Take a whole, recently deceased chicken, feathers and all, and smear it with mud until it is plastered on a half-inch thick everywhere. Dig a hole and drop in a layer of coals from the fire, toss in the chicken an more coals, cover completely with ashes and coals, then keep the fire burning above it for two hours. Dig it out, crack open and serve.

Hunger is a good cook.

 

[musketman]

Wow, I have never dreamed of doing it this way...

Squirrel-on-a-stick... :haha:

People eat chicken skin all the time without giving it a second thought, so why not squirrel...

Just wondering, how did this method come about?
I used fire to singe pin hairs off of ducks, but never squirrels...

Cool tip...

 

[deforge1]

Yep, I have had hobo chicken.. Good stuff.
When I was in Central America a lifetime ago I partook frequently with the locals of rodents and lizard done this way.. And then 10-12 yrs ago I was at a AMM camp, shot a squirel and decided to try it with a tree rat, worked well, didn't have to hassle with the hide (shot him with a smoothbore so it would have been holey anyway) and used it as a lesson in survival cooking. Only grumbling I heard was that burning hais smelled worse than me...

 

The Asians eat rats the same way you have described here. I had a very good Chinese friend when I was a teen and his folks had immigrated from Communist China. They thought rat was a delicacy and live-trapped field rats for meals. I gave them some squirrels we shot one weekend and they thought the meat was substandard to rat...

 

[Doc Contender]

I have cook fish this way when I was a kid. Didn't gut them, just "Stake and Bake".

 

[Deadeye]

In India they just build a small fire and throw the rats on, hair, guts and all til they judge them done. South East Asians will usually cook small animals with the skin on so will burn all the hair off before leaving the woods.

 

[Deadeye]

Watched a documentary yesterday about Mongolia. they shot a Marmot(woodchuck) in the head, cut his throat and took out his guts thru the throat, put the heart and liver back in with some real hot rocks, sealed up the opening, burned off the hair, left it cook about 2 hrs. had to open the throat a few times to let the steam out to keep it from exploding.
Split it open , drank the juices and ate the meat. The one American admitted it was mighty tough meat.

 

[deforge1]

Deadeye, That sounds interesting and worth a try with a young groundhog!

 

[Deadeye]

Yes, that would be worth a try but definately get a young one. Anyone who ever tried to fry an old squirrel knows
how tough an old one can be. The Mongols didn't seem to mind but the american kept taking his piece out and looking at it and putting it back and chewing some more.