receipe for a squirel dish

[TwoShadows]

Using old, tough squirrls instead of feeding them to the dogs can be accomplished by following the instructions below to achieve a pretty good meal.

Boil your old squirrels in lightly salted water until the meat will fall off the bone. Pick all the bones out and discard them. reserve the meat until you have prepared the following.

Dice potatoes into 3/8ths inch cubes,...cook in the same skillet you did the squirrel in. Stir/sautee in half a stick of real butter until potatoes reach a consistency you prefer. You may want to adjust the amount of salt at this point and I love lots of black pepper added at this time...

Add squirrel back into the skillet with the potatoes and stir until well mixed and all ingredients are nice and hot again.

Serve onto plate or into bowl. PLACE A LARGE DOLLOP OF SOUR CREAM ON TOP OF IT! This is the part that really livens up the dish.

I do this same dish with rabbit and call it Hasenpheffer....since this is squirrel I call it "Squirrelenpheffer".

 

Dagnabit, an' all these har yars I was a thinnin' that tree rats was fer shootin', not eatin'!!!

 

[TwoShadows]

Tuffy, I wuz raised to not shoot nutin I wuddent bee willin ta eat. I don't ketch possums no mor for thet verry reason. Ah does make 'ception...don't et no coyote....don't et no starlings. I eats squirrels reg'lar like, but give up on tha heds whin ah founded out thet thet gits chock full uv them pcb's er pdq's or whutever.

 

[Robert58]

Fry the youngen's put the olden's in with the dumplings.

Robert

 

TwoShadows, You & me was kinda raised alike. Pa told me when he got me my furst .22, boy, whatere ya shoot ya's agona eat it. I only shot one muskrat & one sparra. That purty well larnt me. Cept fer that damn divin' duck that et shad ofn the bottom o' the pond.

 

[Deadeye]

My Ma used to take those old tough ones and boil til tender then she made a batter that was about a 1/4 of an inch thick over the whole piece of squirrl and deep fried it. It was wonderful.
She also put them with dumplings sometime.
We ate a lot of squirrels and always ate the heads. Course that was back before they invented pcbs. Sure miss those tree rats, we don't have them here.
Deadeye

 

[Chuck Deaton]

A word to the wise. Especially now that Mad Cow has turned up in the US.

Mad Squirrel is not unheard of.

http://www.people.virginia.edu/~rjh9u/sqbrain.html

 

[musketman]

We use to eat S.O.S.

Squirrel on a shingle...

Good ol' squirrel greavy... (less the #6 shot)

 

[Zonie]

Wal, we aint got too many squirrls down har in the desert an the do gooders are protectin all the squirrls up on the mountain down by tuck-son un it would take a couple thousand roo-rats to get 'nuf brains ta see let alone eat so's ah guess awl jus pass on that one.
My pappy tol me ta eat anythin I shot too but A've been tryin ta farget it. I mean it's bad enough eatin one o them 50yarders buy did ye ever try ta cook down one o them 200 yard schuetzen targets tha NMLRA sells??? Dam thin takes at least 2 hours un even with salt an lotttttts o pepper it still don hav much flavor. It doooooo stick to the ribs tho.

 

[Doc Contender]

I use a crock pot. Meat very tender when done.

 

[Haggis]

Old squirrels can be tough eating, but if I may make so bold as to refer the reader to another writer of our inclination who offered sound wisdom concerning the teeth versus empty belly conundrum;

"I have often witnessed these Philosophical and independent dignitaries collected round a Bulls ham just torn from a pile of embers good humoredly observing as they hacked the hugh slices from the lean mass that this was tough eating but that it was tougher where there was none and consoling themselves with a promise to make the fat cows suffer before the year rolled round."

 

[TwoShadows]

I jist thunk uv anuther one that would be perfect for camp.
Take a skinned rinsed squirrel that hasn't been cut up into pieces...an old tough one works just as well, cause it's gonna end up tender.

Lay the squirrel, whole and belly up on a large piece of tinfoil.
Add a sliced up carrot
Add a sliced up potato
Add a sliced up onion
cut up about a quarter stick of butter on top of all this.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Carefully fold and pinch the edges of the foil until you have a sealed airtight envelope around the whole thing. Then be sure and add another sheet of foil over the first one...pinching and making sure of the airtightness of this layer too.

Gently lay the whole thing in the campfire...no punctures is the secret of succes here. Directly on a bed of hot coals is best, but not mandatory. Leave it there untouched for 45 minutes...then gently turn it over....leave for 15 minutes.

Remove from fire carefully and place on a flat surface. Use your knife to slit the top of the foil.Carefull here of the hot steam coming out...gently spread the foil to expose the contents and consume it with the gusto of a hound dog. Fine meal with no dishes to clean up...

The tight closed foil works much like a pressure cooker to keep juices and butter in there to keep it moist and prevent scorching. Even one of the big ol red squirrels with a medicare card will come out "pull apart tender"!
Ah know,...Al-yew-minny-yum aint been invented in a camp like this yet, but it shore make fer some gud eatin. yew might even consider putting a stick er 2 uv wood over tha top o it whilst cookin ta hide hit frum nosy neighbors...jist a thot.

 

[Haggis]

Twoshadows recipe reminded of some of the stuff my Daddy did when I was a youngster.

If you don't have foil and vegetables, but you do have a tough old squirrel or groundhog, and you're "out there". You can "case" skin the varmint as careful as possible and use it plew for a kettle.

Just case skin the varmint, gut and cut up the parts you want to eat, heat some little squirrelhead size rocks real hot, tie the legs holes and such shut with a cord. Pack the pieces of meat you want with as many stones as you can get in with the meat back into the plew, and tie the amperstand shut with another cord.

As the "kettle" heats up the hair will slip on the outside after the hair is off, give the package a while to finish; maybe an hour or hour and a half all together. Open the amperstand and be careful because if you tied the cords tight the kettle will be full of steam and then some. Dig out the meat and go to eating.

It ain't seasoned, it ain't uptowns finest, but a man can thrive on it. Shoot, a man can even eat the kettle if times are hard.

 

[No Powder]

Squirel dish,
Simple; When hunting and the opertunity presents itself, clean Squirel take that small salt and pepper shaker from your pocket, season to taste and put on a stick over the fire.
Complex: Clean and debone, cut meat into chunks, quick fry in a wok, pull to side add some veggies,quick fry. Then put the two together with a 1/2cup of water cover and steam for 20 min. Really tender Squirel or Rabbit. I should of said season to taste. Check when steaming about half way through to see if you need more water, Rabbit usually takes more water.

 

[RJR]

Here's the recipe I used before out in the woods (similar to Twoshadows). One fresh shot squirrel, cleaned and skinned. A small mess of cattail root cut up. Berries and Sassafrass if you can find some. Salt and pepper if you have it. Get some good pure river clay and make a bowl from it big enough to hold everything. Put it all inside with a few maple leaves to hold moisture and close it up tight. Poke a small (1/8") hole in it so it won't explode on you, learned that one the hard way. Then put it on the coals and bake until the clay is baked hard like pottery, break it open and chow down. Tastes great and period correct. We used to do the same thing with cold river run carp and even they were good. Take care, Rick.

 

[TwoShadows]

Hey, No Powder....I fot a wok wuf fumpin ya fwowed at a wabitt!

 

[No Powder]

No that's a wak.

 

[Allan]

You guys are terrible.
I had a nice supper 'bout 6 and am now just finished this string of eatin stories.
There is a venison burger in the fridge and the 8inch iron skillet still on the stove from breakfast. After reading all your stories, I feel as if I haven't eaten in days.
Skillet warming now...