Now, I haven’t eaten squirrel for several years, but my dad called me a few of weeks back to let me know that he had a couple of fresh little fellas all skinned, cleaned, and ready to cook. So, I hightailed it up to my parents’ house to see how the cooking was done—and then share the process with all of you.
First, you need to quarter your squirrels. (Dad says that one squirrel per person is a proper serving.) You should also soak the quartered squirrels in milk for at least 30 minutes. Soaking them overnight is even better. Supposedly, this reduces the gaminess of the meat by removing some of the blood. Here is what the cleaned and soaked squirrel pieces look like.
Next, coat the pieces in seasoned flour. We added some salt, pepper, and a dash of Cajun spices to our flour. Dad even has a nifty little flour-coating device, which you can see below.
Now it’s time to brown the little suckers to seal in the flavor. Heat a half-inch of oil in a skillet on medium-high heat. Brown the squirrel in the hot oil, 5 minutes per side.
Remove the pieces and drain them on a paper towel. Place the squirrel pieces in an ovenproof dish and bake them at 325°F for 30 minutes.
Here’s the finished product. Looks pretty tasty, huh? Just like chicken.
For those of you grossed out by the idea of eating squirrels, don’t knock it ’til you tried it. There is a recession on, you know; we may all be going into our backyards soon to scavenge for food—and squirrel would certainly be near the top of my list. I mean, squirrels are preferable to opossums, right? At least they don’t have such nasty tails….
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when I lived in KY- I had friends who used to hunt dove and fry them... never tried squirrel, though. Good title for a post:)
ReplyDeleteHey, Aimee! Doves are actually really good. But, then again, I have a pretty high tolerance for wild game, given that we used to eat it quite a bit. Either way, maybe I'll do a dove-tastic follow-up post!
ReplyDeleteAwesome. I've always wanted to try squirrel. Have you had them prepared any other way?
ReplyDeleteHi, Mr. Zilla! When I was a kid, we used to roll the squirrel pieces in flour, salt, and pepper then just fry them in vegetable oil (like fried chicken). The soaking-in-milk and the baking steps are things that my dad has added to the process over the years. I prefer the frying/baking method described above to the just-frying method because the baking part seems to make the squirrel less greasy and more tender. Thanks for stopping by!
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