Ack!! I wish you hadn't posted that Debra. Poor little guys, and I honestly have never heard of anyone cooking them in their slow cooker.

IâÂÂd make a big salad, take a steak out of the freezer for myself, maybe bake a couple of potatoes and let him have his squirrel. Good luck!

One good thing is I use crockpot liners so the squirrels don't actually touch the crockpot, LOL. DH and DS will eat the squirrel. DD is a vegetarian and I'm going to pass on this.

We do eat deer meat when hunting is successful. I have also eaten frog and snail which sound just as bad to me.

I'm making spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. The squirrel won't be ready for a few days.

Them tree rats make WONDERFUL Jerky,just dont over do it with the seasonings and its real fine eating.
Rabbit can be an equal substitute thats also very tasty.
As for the crock pot,its over kill.
Just brown seasoned flour meat pieces and slow simmer in country gravy for about 30min covered
Side of white rice and biscuits Mmmmm

I'll pass along the jerky idea and your country gravy recipe as DH does make jerky. DH has also cooked rabbit for me which was a little strong tasting.

I think DH is trying to overcome the gamey taste that was an issue last time we tried squirrel.

If your DH wants some more roof rats, send him my way. They get into the gutters and are trying to get in to the attic through the roof right now. I would pass on eating them also, but I might just try one bite. You never know if you might like something.

I do love venison, roasted or pan sauteed with a mushroom cream sauce and frog legs and snails (escargot), both in a good garlic butter.

I grew up on squirrel and rabbit. Helped skin and gut them many times as a child. Way back then, deer were rare in Indiana. Now they are as common as rabbits. And much better tasting!

I'd love to have access to some squirrel now. Interesting to sous vide them to tenderize, then maybe bread and quickly fry them in hot oil for a crisp crust. Never tried that.

Enjoy the experiment.

Let us know how your DH's recipe works out.

I had squirrel stew once at a camp. The meat had the taste and texture of rubber bands, and about the size of large ones too. Needless to say I'm not recommending that cooking method!

Sounds like dog food to me, and I wish the neighbors' dogs would eat the squirrels in my neighborhood - maybe they have. The dog next door is a Great Dane, and I have not noticed as much squirrel activity since they moved in. The previous neighbors had a cat that used to visit my yard, and I was always afraid it would eat the lizards, which I like to keep in the yard to cut down on spiders.

I do not like venison at all, but I love frogs' legs. I've had rabbit and did not especially like that either. Honestly I did not know that anyone cooked squirrels and thought that you had squirrels getting into a crockpot stored in your garage or attic.

Lars

This post was edited by publickman on Tue, Nov 18, 14 at 18:45

Squirrels are not very cute if you have to deal with $50,000 of roof repairs.

dcarch

I'm with you DC. I used to love the "squirrellys" until the squatted between my roof and bedroom ceiling, they ate threw the wiring in an area where it cannot be reached to repair. Not to mention the constant pattering of squirrel feet.

A childhood memory was my grandmother, the hunter, dropping a half dozen fox squirrels in my mother's sink. I think it was her way of seeing how this WOP would handle skinning and cooking them.

I grew up eating squirrel, usually in stew because it was the only way a couple of squirrels bagged by my brother would feed six. We also had rabbit, turtle, porcupine, pheasant, partridge, whatever Gordy could shoot was What's For Dinner. We ate far more game than any other meat.

I guess I just don't see the difference between eating fish or chickens or pigs and eating squirrels or rabbits. The squirrels and rabbits are tougher and leaner than domesticated animals, and the problem with crockpot cooking is that they will fall apart and then you have to pick out all those blasted tiny little bones.....

Rabbit is lean and high in protein, a very healthy and sustainable meat, and I'm only assuming that squirrel is similar.

Annie

Live "country" like I have for over 50 years and you learn
to eat what the land provides.
If you dont like it one way try cooking it another,never blame the protein source that nourishes you,blame your cooking skills :)
The BIG book tells us to take dominion over the animals,nothing is sacred,kill it and eat it.
Things like salt water and butter milk soak out what some term "strong" flavor,LOL thats the animals flavor which is based on what it eats in the wild.
If your "conditioned" to store bought overly processed proteins( I call'em Gerber Babies) then none of the wonderful world will convince you otherwise.
I have free range proteins beef,pork,foul that many do not like because its free range and free of all the nasty stuff done to "normal" store bought garbage food substances.

Give Thanks to God for all things on your plate that many do not have.

Rabbit is lean and high in protein, a very healthy and sustainable meat, and I'm only assuming that squirrel is similar.

I caught something on the radio the other week about rabbit becoming more trendy, for the very reasons you mention. It's a hard sell to folks who have watched the cartoon starring that wasically wabbit.

A British TV cook the other night, River Cottage's Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, was doing a show on wild foods which was a meal made of foods scrounged from around the land. An orchardist neighbour contributed squirrels which had been raiding his fruit trees. Said squirrels were turned into pasta sauce, which was a hit. Found another squirrel recipe on his website which you might try if you don't like the current one and DH wants to try again :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: River Cottage's Braised Squirrel

I haven't been able to get this out of my head since first reading the subject line:

Squirrels in the crockpot skip to my Lou
Squirrels in the crockpot skip to my Lou
Squirrels in the crockpot skip to my Lou
Skip to my Lou, my darling

Good luck shaking that one!

I've lived in heavily squirreled areas all my life, but aside from one college dorm room intruder the worst they've bothered me is stealing from the bird feeder.

Sometimes it's convenient to opt to keep kosher...

I've had venison, frog legs (which are tasty, but never enough) and raccoon. When I lived in Fellsmere, Florida they started a Frogleg Festival about 15 years ago. They wondered if anyone would show up. Now it's a major event. I've only eaten raccoon once. They had it at game night at church one year. It was the mystery meat. I thought it might be black bear. I prefer it to beef. If you have too many squirrels you should get some cats. My outdoor kitties catch them on a regular basis.

I've consumed hundereds of pounds of squirrel , venison and other wildlife. For the benifit of you who currently eat or plan eating wild game,here's a life time worth of experience coming not only from my experience but dozens of family,neighbors and fellow hunters as well. #1 reason for foul tasting wild game is that mutch of it has spoiled before ever reaching home. Every cook book warn's of mishandling meat,why would game be an exception? That's a rhetorical question because there are many who will swear game doesn;t spoil if hung in the shade. That's because they always give it away any how. Make's no diiference, beef , venison ,squirrel , upland bird or chicken. It should be killed quickly and with minium stress. Emediatly following death,it should be skined,gutted,bled then refregerated/put on ice. Beef is not very tasty unless alowed to cool and age inside a cooler before cooked. Only difference with game is it shouldn't age in a cooler unless it's unussualy fat deer,elk or moose,then not near long as beef. If you have game that has been properly handled,I urge you to prepare EXACTLY same as meat from the super market. I have won many wagers in blind taste tests of venison where people couldn't pick venison from beef. Converted some people along the way. Squirrel taste's like,,,,,,,,,well it taste's EXACTLY like squirrel and nothing else I ever ran accross. I love the taste and do nothing in attempts to change it. I can pick squirrel from all others so therfore I understand when someone doesn't like it. Most important tip I can give you is if she has been suckled (obivous same as cat and dog) or his knockers arn't cover in hair matching his belly, meat will be tough so boil it before any other method of cooking. Here's a quick and simple recipe. Cut into parts,season with salt and pepper, boil until fork tender, stir in saltine crackers ,reduce heat to simmer for 5 minutes and serve. If you injoy it substitute dumplins and cook same as chicken or try squirrel in some of your own recipes. Quail is nothing less than prime miniture game hen. Wild boar is plentful so that is likly the next game you will be offered. Unless the hunter is a farm boy or swine expert,pass on males. If a male has much domestic ancestry the odor while cooking is awful and taste's just as bad. Why does it matter if hunter know's swine? Glad you asked. Russian Boar,aka Eurasian wild pig , are ugly but taste wonderful. Even hy-brids with Eurasian genetics taste fine. The average nimrod can't tell the differece between an Eurasian pig and a razorback unless he's wearing a red & white jersey.
So there you have it. Treat game like food from field to table.

Although I've never eaten squirrel and hope that I never have to, if I hadn't had any meat for a long time I think I would try it. My parents were raised in the mountains and said that it was good in stew with lots of gravy. They look too much like rats to me. With the price of meat nowadays we might have to start looking to the wild critters for meat so I'll refrain from saying never.

There must be a way to keep them out of your attic. A cute little red squirrel (albeit terrorist) got into our crawl space and we caught it in a rat trap (thinking we had rats). Didn't choose to eat it though.
Fixed various holes in the crawlspace and no more problems.

Isn't it funny how, if we haven't grown up eating certain things, they sound so repulsive to us?

I've never had squirrel myself, but I believe that hereabouts for the old timers they're one of the traditional ingredients in Brunswick stew.

We dont call'em Tree RATS for nothing :)
Again,no bad food,just to many bad cooks

Wild game humbles the best

Right now the squirrels are marinating in italian dressing in the fridge. I promise to try a bite just so I can report on the results!

How we got these squirrel was DH was out deer hunting and there was about 25 squirrels running around the area and since they are in season he shot a few. These are gray squirrels.

When I saw the skinned bodies I thought they looked like baby kitties. That and since I've eaten it before and didn't care for it is what has turned me off. I will try at least one bite!

"Isn't it funny how, if we haven't grown up eating certain things, they sound so repulsive to us?"

Reminds me of when a lady asked the short order cook what's good on the menu. I make mouth watering braised beef tongue he answered. YUK,I would never eat something that came from an animal's mouth ! WELL HOWS ABOUT A COUPLE OF SCRAMBLED EGGS THEN !
"we might have to start looking to the wild critters for meat so I'll refrain from saying never."
Great mind set rita,your parents raised you well. I never insist anyone eat it simply because I do. On the other hand, able bodied people sucking on food stamps while homeowners and farmers will pay them for help in controlling nuisance wildlife put's those individuals in the same catagory as nuisance animals.

I was picturing someone getting out their crockpot, pulling the lid off -- and finding squirrels. Ack.

cooking them is marginally better than this scenario.

The only reason why I am not eating the squirrels I caught is because many of the people around the area spray all kinds of chemicals. I am not sure that the free range critters are that organic.

dcarch

Squirrels are rats with bushy tails. Three or four years ago we were overrun with squirrels out of the blue. Probably 20 or more a day in our small backyard. At the time we didn't know that the .... I'll just call her a woman .... next door was feeding them. Hubs put a poison bar out and the squirrels ate it so greedily that he put a total of 5 bars out to get rid of them. It cut the population down, but didn't eliminate it. Thankfully the person next door isn't entirely mobile anymore and doesn't go around drawing vermin to her yard. Now we have 1 part time squirrel resident who doesn't dare attack the bird feeder. The cardinals would attack him!!

Eat them? Not on a bet. I don't eat much meat although I'm not a vegetarian. Close, but not there. Turkey day is my favorite!

I wouldn't eat them either, but the title of your post reminded me of a Phineas and Ferb song that my grandsons used to love. "Squirrels in my Pants"
You should Google to see the actual cartoon. It's pretty cute and will definitely leave an earworm!
Smiles!

Here is a link that might be useful: Squirrels in My Pants

klem, my Grandma used to wonder who the first human was who said "that came out of a chicken's butt, I think I'll eat it". (grin)

That said, I think a couple of Elery's grandkids won't eat eggs anymore, since they visited the farm....

Annie

"That said, I think a couple of Elery's grandkids won't eat eggs anymore, since they visited the farm.... "

There is no better place to be born and raised but visiting a farm can be shocking sometimes.

>>There is no better place [a farm] to be born and raised but visiting a farm can be shocking sometimes.>>

Yes, it's pretty sad how removed we are from our food sources as Americans, as Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre Foods likes to point out.

I have no objection to game, but as an urban dweller born/raised, it doesn't come our way often. We love farm-raised venison, which is the way beef used to taste when I was growing up in Chicago by the stockyards.

You have to taste something properly prepared before you can say you don't like it, as my mother (who was raised on a farm) often said. I'm not fond of rabbit - we're dark meat/beef lovers - but there's a French restaurant in the Napa Valley that makes the best rabbit dishes ever. It's the only place I order it, where it's succulent, flavorful, and still juicy.

If squirrels are rats with tails, remember that pigeons are rats with wings. And squab (young pigeon) is traditionally a delicacy - rightly so, the original Chinese lettuce-wrapped chicken always used squab, as does the traditional Moroccan festive dish, bastilla. Both are delicious and memorable.

One of the few foods I don't like? Guinea hen. Had it several times at 4- and 5-star restaurants (which abound here like the proverbial squirrels, in the San Francisco Bay Area), and just am "meh" about the flavor of the meat. Give me a plate of foie gras or sweetbreads, octopus or freshwater eel, tripe or tongue - I'm there!

But upscale fancy little guinea hens that all the chefs are raving about these days? Bleh.

Sidney and Seymour:

Years ago we found 2 naked little things under one of the trees. I took them inside and they were baby squirrels. (Pinkies) I learned how to raise them until they were old enough to be released in the wild. I fed them every 2 hours with a syringe, and kept them warm on a heating pad, or in my shirt pocket.

When we released them, they scampered up the tree, then down again and up my leg and arm to nuzzle my neck. Then scampered off. I bawled like a baby.

"Squirrels in the crockpot skip to my Lou
Squirrels in the crockpot skip to my Lou
Squirrels in the crockpot skip to my Lou
Skip to my Lou, my darling"

Thanks a lot FOAS! TWO DAYS of singing this.

Aw Jasdip, you're like Snow White...and my Grandmother. She's lived in a wooded area by lakes for the last 25-30 yrs and had squirrels come knock on her screen door. She would go out with a pecan and hand it to them. She made friends with a fox, turkeys, deer, and who knows what else.

I'm, admittedly, a tenderfoot. I saw an ad for one of our grocery stores with the title "everything you need for tamales" with HOG HEADs featured. I had no idea and wish I still didn't.

Jasdip, I had a pet squirrel once, but I've also had pet rabbits, pet calves, a pet goat and pet pigs. We ate them anyway.

The squirrel managed to escape one day, after scampering into a freshly frosted birthday cake. I think my Grandmother chasing it about with a broom convinced it to run outside, LOL. The pet raccoon was worst, though. It was meaner than a snake and would bite when I tried to feed it. I would have happily eaten it for dinner any day!

Annie

We have squirrels, which are called squirrels. We have actual tree rats which are rattus rattus. They nest above ground level. I don't want to eat either one for reasons others have explained. You don't know what a city squirrel, or rat, has been eating. I'm sure Debra's freshly hunted country squirrels are less objectionable. :)

Report? How were they?

Jkom said it's pretty sad how removed we are from our food sources as Americans. When I was small, we made butter in school and learned all about different foods. A truck would come around to the schools with cows. I think that's where the milk for the butter came from. My folks took us to the country on weekend excursions to see farms, and we spent vacation time on a friend's ranch. I don't dwell on these things much, but I stopped in a chain grocery store for containers today and would have picked up a few things I needed, but every aisle I walked down I kept wondering where the actual food was. The only thing edible I bought was ketchup and condiments aren't exactly "food". (To be fair, I didn't need milk or produce.)

I've lived where the bread was just piled naked on a serve yourself shelf. Some people would question people's grubby hands on the bread (though most people just take a loaf and don't touch others). The powers that be said that they'd consider requiring wrappers when someone could demonstrate that people had gotten sick from the bread. :) My visit today to the Palace of Packaging made me wonder, while I was there, what the kind of people who buy most of their food there eat. Cardboard and plastic?

I skipped this thread because I thought the title line was a euphemism. I was wrong :0

I've never had squirrel, but growing up, we always had farm-raised rabbit as my sister was allergic to chicken. Tastes like chicken -- and the French do great things with lapin. Now that I know they have many bones and a unique taste I don't think I'll seek it out. (I've also eaten turtle, horse, quail, pheasant, wild boar, guinea pig, snail, bird embryos, cricket, sea cucumber and a whole lot of other things that I shall not ever consume again)

Living near the coast, we had a steady stream of wild caught salmon, steelhead trout and freshly gathered shellfish (clams, crabs, oysters) caught by our extended family and family friends. Really didn't like it as a little kid -- it got redundant -- but love them now. Occasionally we got deer or elk. We never had squirrel or smaller fowl, as there were other larger things that were just as plentiful.

Pillog's remark about keeping Kosher reminded me of the painting of the Last Supper we saw in a museum in Lima, Peru. On the plates of the attendees is the Peruvian specialty - roasted guinea pig! Really? The Disciples and Jesus were all Jews; it is highly unlikely that they would be dining on rodents.

Cooking them today. Will report back.

I've had squirrel. Some of our students come from rural areas of the state, and one had squirrel for lunch while sitting in our small commuter lounge. Since DH and I do watch Bizarre Foods, Bourdain, etc., I thought I'd ask him for a bite since I figured this was my opportunity. He said he aims to get the big ones since they have the most meat. It was decent and definitely had a gamey taste, and it didn't taste like chicken, LOL.

The squirrels are on ice for time being. Dh decided he didn't have time to grill them this weekend so he put them with the marinate in the freezer. I've been ignoring them so didn't realize they had left the refrigerator for the freezer.