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Squirrels: Favorite recipe? Shirt and pants? or tail and tug?

spracklin

spracklin

Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2022
Messages
45
Location
Ontario Canada
After my sit on wednesday, I decided the world needed a few less squirrels, and since I'm flying solo for dinner tonight, I invited a few guests.

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Whats your favorite recipe?
I'm thinking of braising these 3 in garlic butter with rosemary...
 
Last meal I made with squirrel was to use in a gumbo. I usually use the tail and tug.
 
Kind of off topic, but are there lots of black squirrels in your area? I've only ever seen one personally.

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Shirt and pants.

Fry at lunchtime and make gravy. Toss it all in the crockpot and eat it for supper.
 
I
sweats said:
Kind of off topic, but are there lots of black squirrels in your area? I've only ever seen one personally.

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Thought the same, cool looking black squirrels. We have grey and reds in NWI.
 
sweats said:
Kind of off topic, but are there lots of black squirrels in your area? I've only ever seen one personally.

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the black coloration seems to be predominant, we do occasionally see grays, iirc there is as study being conducted on the different colormorphs.

last year i shot 7 black, 1 gray.
 
Last 2 seasons I've done the following.

Shoot a limit of 8. "Shirt and pants" them, but only do the pants part. Don't gut or mess with back and shoulders, just cut the back legs loose. Toss em in an instant pot with some salt and water. Cook down until they pull apart. Discard bones. Save water.

Use water to add to a pot of broth (onion, 5-6 garlic cloves, 2 sticks celery, carrot or 2, pepper).

Use broth and squirrel meat to make limb-chicken and dumplings. Can't elaborate on that, since my wife handles it from there.

Sqwings are good too.

But as much as I love to shoot them, I've cleaned hundreds and can say I hate messing with them more than about any other critter. Nothing stinks like a dang squirrel. Back-legs only like a bullfrog makes them fun again.
 
Nutterbuster said:
But as much as I love to shoot them, I've cleaned hundreds and can say I hate messing with them more than about any other critter. Nothing stinks like a dang squirrel. Back-legs only like a bullfrog makes them fun again.
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i tend to clean em as soon as i shoot them and get them chilled asap, less scent and better flavor. i wouldn't feel right about not using the whole squirrel, never had an issue with gutting and quartering them
 
spracklin said:
i tend to clean em as soon as i shoot them and get them chilled asap, less scent and better flavor. i wouldn't feel right about not using the whole squirrel, never had an issue with gutting and quartering them
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I've quartered a lot of them. Back in college I hit them hard. 8 a day, 7 days a week sometimes. I have a patch of woods nearby that when they're on the beech nuts it's not rare to be able to shoot a limit out of 1 tree. We're infested with them.

Whichever way you clean them, cooking them down in an instant pot and then shredding the meat is, I think, the way to go. You can then put the meat in pot pies, stews, dumplings, whatever. I've even made pulled squirrel BBQ sammiches.
 
Nutterbuster said:
have a patch of woods nearby that when they're on the beech nuts it's not rare to be able to shoot a limit out of 1 tree. We're infested with them.
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Today was a hickory grove. I could have limited out (5 a day here) if i stuck around but 3 is more than enough for me and my freezer is still too full
 
I’ve eaten a busload of squirrels and I’m not afraid to say it some of the best tasting game meat I’ve had, but you have absolutely got to cook it down to get it tender. I can say though that I’ve never thought to use my instant-pot. Genius. Well, Alabama level genius, lol, but doing that definitely opens up a LOT of options. Like squirrel boudin…..
 
dalton916 said:
I’ve eaten a busload of squirrels and I’m not afraid to say it some of the best tasting game meat I’ve had, but you have absolutely got to cook it down to get it tender. I can say though that I’ve never thought to use my instant-pot. Genius. Well, Alabama level genius, lol, but doing that definitely opens up a LOT of options. Like squirrel boudin…..
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Lots of people complain about wild game not having fat. Squirrels have pretty good fat. Greasy in a good way. Like dark meat chicken. Just wish they were bigger and that they didn't stink as bad as they do. They're like channel catfish. It's not a horrendous odor, but it's unmistakable and I burnt myself out on it having too much fun.
 
As far as recipe goes, it's an adaptation from what I saw on Meateater. Pressure cook meat, then wrap in croissant dough with cheese (I hate onions and peppers) and bake. Basically, squirrel pigs in a blanket.
 
My favorite has been to boil and then fry. Tacos with tar tar sauce and Mexican slaw to taste.
 
I don’t know that I have the patience to shoot a limit. I think it’s 15 if I remember correctly. I could probably shoot 5 a day though in my yard without much effort. Limb-chicken tikka masala might actually interest me enough to mess with them.
 
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