Squirrel Recipes?

[Buckmaster]

Squirrel season is around the corner. I haven't gone squirrel hunting in about 10 years. I thought I'd try it this year while deer scouting a new property I have available to hunt. I've never been a real squirrel fan because I always thought the meat was tough. Anyone have any good squirrel recipes you'd like to share?

[Buckmaster]

Come on guys, How do you make those "tree rats" taste good?

[Buckrun]

You can’t! Just bring them to me. I’ll dispose of them.:D
Steve

[CatDaddy]

I have always just boiled the things until they are soft and then roled them in flower and fried them

[Thunderflight]

I've heard cooking them in a crock pot with spices helps.

TF

[Spring fever]

Coat the cut up pieces(4legs and back) in your favorite breading. I like Frying Magic the best but there are some other good ones out there including plain old flour with galic powder, onion powder, pepper, and seasoned salt added. Fry till its nice and brown. Remove from skillet and put them in a roaster. I have a metal rack that I use to lay the pieces on that fits inside the roaster, then I add water. The rack keeps the meat from laying in the water and seems to work better but if you don't have a rack try to lay the pieces on edge to keep them as much out of the water as possible. Turn the oven to 300 degrees and cover the roster. The secret is long slow cooking the squirrel and it took a few years of eating tough meat before I finally learned to give it more time. Usually a couple of hours is good but if the squirrels are big oldies it can stay in the oven longer. You might want to turn down the heat after a couple of hours. Just keep checking it to see if its done. Serve with wild rice and carrots sweetened with brown sugar and its hard to beat.


:) --SF

[Richs63Corvair]

Last year there was a recipe on another website that said to cook them in a crock pot to the meat fall off the bone then to drain the water and add BBQ sauce. Shredded Sqiurrel sandwinches.........Sounds good ................Rich

[pawclaws]

Oh you guys! :cool: OK Let me see if I can help you all out. I'll post a recipe here every so often for you. Let's see we'll start with the oldest I have; Brunswick Stew. It is pretty much fool proof so should be no problem:

2 chickens or 4 squirrel
7 large potatoes peeled and cubed
8 large tomatoes, skinned
1 dozen, half peck roasting ears kernels removed
2 measures of butter the size of a chicken egg
salt and pepper

Boil 2 good sized chickens or 4 squirrels in water
Add to the meat a generous supply of tomatoes and potatoes.
When done add ten or twelve ears of corn.
Remove the meat, cut into small pieces and return to the fire.
Cook until very tender and thick.
Seasoning with butter salt and pepper.

This recipe will serve eight to ten and should be served with Dutch oven baked cat head biscuits.

In general remember that squirrel is a fairly lean meat and as a general rule should be cooked quickly over high heat. That ususally means that frying, stir frying, or broiling are the preferred techniques. Should be prepared in 3 or 4 minutes. Go beyond that and the meat gets tough until you get out past say 20 minutes when it begins to become tender again. Remember that the younger the squirrel the more tender the meat will tend to be until they reach adult hood, 2 or more years, then they tend to be " the bigger, the tougher". Most muscle mass I guess. Pressure cooking, using a crock pot, stewing or slow baking over a long period o ftime will make the meat tender just remember to use a low.under 325 degree, heat for these techniques. Treat it likg lean beef or venison for burgers, pulled meat, hash, gravy (like sausage gravy) or batter and fry it like chicken pieces. Experiment a bit until I can get you some more recipes in here.

For more recipes drop by my site at www.ohiocampcooks.org and follow the forum link.

I'll be back!
:D :D

[Buckmaster]

Thanks PawClaws. Hopefully I'll have a couple bushy tails to try this out next weekend.

[sarge]

I have always liked this gravy rec.

Boil your meat untill you can debone.
Fry in a little oil to brown.
When almost done frying add just enough flour to cover meat.
Finish browning flour and meat (this should take only a couple of minutes).
Add milk a little at a time while stirring until kinda soupy.
let cook on med low untill it is as thick as you like your gravy.
Make your biscuits.
Chow down!!!!!!!

Grandpa and grandmas recipe.

[pawclaws]

Sarge, now if you had yourself a good Corporal he would have already had those bixcuits in the oven!:p By the way, I didn't see near enough garlic in that gravy!!:D Looks pretty good. :cool:

[Eastlake Hunter]

Sautayed and simmered. Cut it up the way you like , season the way you like, sautay with onions, reduce heat, add your favorite cream and thicken with flour. Add a pot full of mashed potatoes, and enjoy, I love it.

[pawclaws]

EastLake Hunter, have you actually tried that recipe? I haven't, nor will I because usaually when one adds flour to a hot liquid it ends up being a " pot of lumps" If you are adding mashed potatoes to the "sauce" after cooking the squirrel a better technique would be to just forget the flour entirely. The starchy potato will thicken the sauce into a gravy and absorb it as well. :D

[Eastlake Hunter]

Well cooky, I just thought that you would know that you have the potatoes on the side and not in the stew. Put the garovy on and eat it up. Been eating this for 50 yrs.

[pawclaws]

OK then! :) Sprinkle your flour over the meat and stir it up real good before you add your liquid. That will keep you from having the lumpies and if you want you can let her turn nice and brown before adding the liquid. Gives it a whole new dimension to flavor. Here is another one I found just in case you like flour lumps! :D

In a large pot, place 6 skinned and cleaned squirrels, 1 chopped onion and a stalk of chopped celery. Cover with water; add 3 chicken bouillon cubes and 2 tablespoons butter; cover and boil until squirrels are tender—about two hours. Remove and de-bone squirrels. Strain broth and set aside.

With a fork, mix 1 1/2 cups white flour, 1 egg and 1 cup broth, then continue adding flour until the dough no longer sticks to the bowl and is a consistency that can be rolled out. Roll dough out 1/4-inch thick on a floured surface, then with the tip of a sharp knife, cut dough into long, 2-inch wide strips. Cut the strips crossways every 3 inches to make 2- by 3-inch dumplings.

Return broth to the large pot and place over high heat. Bring to a boil and add squirrel meat, 1 can cream-of-chicken soup and 1 can mushrooms or 1 cup of freshly sliced mushrooms. One by one, add dumplings. Reduce heat to low and cook until done. The noodles will be large and tender. Add salt and pepper to taste.
To convert this to a delicious stew add a drained can of carrots and peas and heat through before serving.

Don't be offended there Eastlake Hunter; no offense intended! :D That method Sarge has shown is a pretty good one for making gravy that turns out nice and smooth! If you want to add liquid to your pan drippings first take your flour, corn starch, massa, whatever you use and mix it up into a paste first and then slowly a tablespoon at a time add the hot liquid from the pan to the paste and stir it up. After several tablespoons of doing this then you can add the paste to the pan and stir it in without having it lump up; on you. The one thing about this method I don't like is that it doesn't give you a chance to brown off your thickener with your pan drippings which to my mind does improve the flavor an awful lot. :D Come on over to www.Ohiocampcooks.org and visit with us!

[The_Duck_Hunter]

Its not that tough to make squirrel tender

As in other posts, coat with your fav coating.
Brown on low heat
Remove squirrel from pan but leave the drippings.
Pour in a can of cream of 'shroom soup.
heat and mix well.

Then do 1 of 2 things:

Lay the squirrel in a pan of wild rice & pour the soup/ gravey over it.
or, if making alot of squirrel (or rabbit or pheasant for that matter)

have a big batch of stuffing made up ahead of time, and layer the stuffing and animal parts in a roaster, pouring the soup/gravey on the meat as you lyer it.

With Either method stick it in the oven on 250 and forget it for a couple ours. Come back and pour another can of mushroom soup on it, and forget it for another 2 or 3 hours.

Tender & tastey!

[Spring fever]

Sounds like a good recipie Duck. Lots of squirrel this year. I have taken 13 in 3 trips. We had our first meal Tuesday night and it was terriffic. They are hard to beat but every wild game dish has its own distinct flavor and I guess I like em all. Happy hunting.


:) --SF--Go Kenton Wildcats take it to Celina tonight.

[The_Duck_Hunter]

Good luck against Celina tonight. We have O.G.

BTW..........if the game is at Celina and Kenton wins tell the players not to rush up and ring their bell they have mounted at 1 of the stadium's corners. They dont take kindly to that....hehehe

[Spring fever]

Kenton vs Celina game is at Kenton. OG is getting better but my money would be on SM. Hey it looks like SM is the team to take it all this year.

:) --SF--How many checks could a woodchuck write if a woodchuck could write checks???

[The_Duck_Hunter]

Well, I'm keepin' my fingers crossed for S.M.

[pawclaws]

DH that recipe ought to work reaL well in a crock pot or burried in a bean hole in a Dutch oven. Just watch the salt. Make sure you taste it before you add any cause the condensed soup will carr a lot into it. You boys ought to think about coming to our Get Together at Salt Fork this May! No dates yet, just general planning. :D

[Links r Us]

I just do 'em up plain n' simple

Just a splat of butter in the skillet to grease it up - chop up some onion n' add squirrel legs .. hard fry 'em together till ya have nice brown meat n' burnt onions .. then add water on & off n' simmer for a couple of hours while a-watchin' F-Ball on a Sat afternoon ... fish the bones out & make some wild a$$ gravy outta the leavin's .. pour over taters or bread n' pig-out - Yum!!:)

ps .. I probably do up too many fish for folks, but I kinda fillet out the 4 legs off the back, twist-off & then pitch the back...

[bowtech777]

Squirrel Mulligan
its a louisiana dish

3 squirrels, dressed (or 1 chicken or quail)
2 onions, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 Irish potatoes, diced
4 tbs chili pepper
salt and pepper to taste
dash of Louisiana hot sauce
1/4 cup celery
1 cup cooked rice
Stew squirrels in water until tender. Remove from bones. Place meat back into broth. Bring to boil; add remaining ingredients, except rice. Cook 45 minutes or until vegetables are ten
I have used this recipe and it is really good, I am not a big squirrel fan, but this one is worth checking out.
Its a thicker rice based spicy spicy dish and it really hits the spot on those cold rainy afternoons in the fall.

really really good tasting, spicy!!

[Links r Us]

;) - now I have a plan to make Coots eatable! ~ just razzin' ya bowtech :D

-It would take alot more hot sauce :eek: :rolleyes: :p

:)

[The_Duck_Hunter]

Coots, 'possum, and carp............I've often wondered if they werent all directly related to one and other.

They eat chit.........they aint worth chit..............and they taste like chit!

[pawclaws]

DH carp don't taste like crap if you filet out thatdorsal vein before you cook them. Leave it in and they make crap taste high class! :D Coot, I never tried, but I suppose with enough garlic... :rolleyes:

[The_Duck_Hunter]

I have eaten carp before, but it was smoked. Personally, I hate cleaning fish, so any more work than just filleting them and I get kinda lazy.

So iffin' ya wanna send some already cleand Paw, I'd prolly sample 'em.

Hehehe, I noticed you didnt mention the possum, so I take it we agree on that?

[pawclaws]

No problem! Just cut a line parallel to the backbone and about a half inch below the dorsal fin after you scale them and before you make your lateral fillet cuts. This removes the fillet leaving all the waste including the dorsal vein or "mud streak"! ;)

[bowtech777]

Links,

What the heck is a COOTS?????

[Links r Us]

Originally posted by bowtech777
Links,

What the heck is a COOTS?????

heheh ~ kinda a black lookin' duck with more of a bleak than bill with really neat green chicken feet *wink* ... they usually smell a lil' funny too, kinda think it has something to do with their diet:)

-here I surfed it up --
Identification Tips:
Length: 12 inches Wingspan: 25 inches
Fairly large, duck-like waterbird with short wings and a short tail
Very short, thick bill
Frequently seen both swimming and walking
Often flicks and cocks short tail while walking, exposing white outer undertail coverts
Sexes similar
Toes have lobed webbing, unlike gallinules

-this is a dandy pic! :-)
http://www.galaxy-data.com/~shearwater/coot.jpg

:D

[bowtech777]

Thanks !!!

I am not into duck huntin, dont have a dog.
Never heard of a coots, pretty strange lookin creature.
Looks like something a person would piece together with some graphics program.

Kinda like a failed science experiment.

Pretty weird.

Dont know if I would want to hunt one of them, Think I will stick with Turks.

Thanks for the info !!!

Bowtech777:D

[Links r Us]

"Kinda like a failed science experiment"

-made my day!!!:D :D :D

[pawclaws]

You know that thing looks like maybe it got a few parts mixed up with the platypus! :eek: