Shrek fed Princess Fiona weed-rat “rotisserie style” and he said they were also great in stews.
So, I’d eschew the squirrels for weed-rats!
Of course, if there are no weed-rats handy, you could scoot down to New Orleans and shoot some nutria
http://www.chefparolaconsulting.com/nutria.htm
Ah! They’re 1920s style death… umm… squirrels…
Oh, I am gonna throw up, are you guys serious?
You can eat squirrels?!
Well, I guess there’s just that one way to skin a squirrel, then…
Get some moose meat to go with it…mmm, Rocky & Bullwinkle stew…
If you can catch 'em.
Seriously, why not? Is it any more strange than eating other cute fluffy critters like, say, rabbit or quail?
It takes a lot of them to make a fur coat. About forty I think. (Counting through the ripped lining. . . yeah, that seems about right.) You might want to keep that in mind and invite some additional guests.
Come to think of it, I have eaten a squirrel. A friend and I were out shooting and there was nothing about, until we came across a grey squirrel.
_ Shall we have it?
_ It’s better than nothing.
_ OK, go ahead.
_ No, no, you take the shot.
_ OK.
Bang! One squirrel in the bag. Not exactly the most thrilling hunting adventure of my life, but on the other hand the little bastards are vermin. The horrible fluffy Yank invaders are eradicating our native European red squirrels, so I struck a blow to redress the balance.
And they taste pretty similar to rabbit. But there’s not much to them. Essentially, all the meat is on the hind legs.
I’d agree - like lean, firm rabbit.
I thought the meat had a distinctly nutty taste, but I realise that might have been wishful thinking.
God I love this board.
Where else in the world could you learn this stuff.
Well I learned in my friend’s kitchen in County Durham, having shot a squirrel and decided to eat it. No need of a messageboard at all. Just a sharp knife, a little garlic, some cream, pepper and a few mushrooms.
I was young, they were plentiful (I harvested them from my apartment balcony with a Sheridan 5mm pellet gun w/ 4x Bushnell scope - head shots, moderately quite), and I had intermitant jobs and better things to spend my hard earned scratch on than food!
Luckily, QOL has improved. But the times we had…
Isn’t it fun when you throw a question into a search engine and the first reponse is a 'Dope thread?
This is exactly what I’m contemplating. How it all began:
I’ve hunted squirrel before, but it was years ago and mostly novelty; have a few hours to kill in the fall, go get a squirrel or two. Cook up in what is hopefully an edible manner. Repeat two or three times a year.
Last weekend I was running and came across a guy who was cleaning a nice stack of squirrels. He had them pretty much complete and ready to go in the cooler, and damned if they didn’t look really good.
Now I have a property with a pretty good squirrel population…the only drawback is that it’s in the city, so a .22 or .410 is right out. Still, I figure that I can get a few with a pellet gun off my back porch without any trouble from the authorities.
I have also been researching conservation land etc. that is close for a more dedicated hunting experience.
So, to the questions: I need to get a pellet gun. These can range from $40 to $200. No farther than I’ll have to shoot (20 yards) I should be fine with the cheaper version. Assuming that even cheap meats cost about $2 a pound, I will have to harvest 20 pounds with said air rifle in order to break even. How many dressed squirrels will I need to reach 20 pounds?
I also have what seems to be a decent population of rabbits which, if I am still living in the same place after a few freezes, I plan to attempt to trap with various snares/deadfalls etc. Any input on that would be great as well.
I know it’s a zombie, but Trichinosis is killed off at 137F (I can’t find any sites for how long it has to be held at this temperature.) That said, I’m not sure I’m interested in squirrel cooked medium-rare to medium. I’d stew the hell out of that sucker.
Incidentally, the Chicago Reader just ran a lengthy and informative article on this “Chicken of the trees.”
I was surprised and somehow pleased when I first saw that in my copy.
For the OP, she has an illustrated guide to field stripping the squirrel.
To the new OP.
You didn’t hear this from me, but rat traps, long drywall screws to affix said traps and p-nut butter as bait. It works sometimes.
Great long article. Has proportions for different preparations right on front page.
Since my comment on the first page, I’ve learned that the stench I associate with cooking squirrel comes from glands in the rear, which apparently neither my mom nor my grampap knew how to remove. You definitely want to learn how to remove them.
I am revolted by the very idea of eating pigeons. I eat squab.
Erk. I have no objection to squab or to squirrel, but I do get a little crosseyed at the thought of city squirrel. Serious question - Do you know what kinds of fertilizers and weedkillers the city uses on the trees and grass? I don’t, but I’d want to know some specifics before I ate city squirrels.
My dad used to use rat-traps (much bigger than mousetraps) nailed to the trees, but he used some sort of suet rather than peanut butter to bait them.
It’s not at all nasty. I haven’t had any in years and when I did, it was western chickaree squirrel not grey squirrel but it was quite nice. I’ve been thinking about searching out restaurants that feature it.