Boy, you're going to bring home some meat this summer!
September 11, 2008 11:07 AM   Subscribe

 
*shrug* The couple of people I've know who have eaten squirrel say that it's actually good...better than rabbit, even.
posted by kaseijin at 11:12 AM on September 11, 2008


between this lady and sarah palin, we've just eliminated moose and squirrel for good
posted by pyramid termite at 11:17 AM on September 11, 2008 [12 favorites]


we've just eliminated moose and squirrel for good

Wait--are you implying that Palin is a plant who slipped over the border from the USSR into Alaska?
posted by DU at 11:21 AM on September 11, 2008 [2 favorites]


s/USSR/Pottsylvania/
posted by DU at 11:21 AM on September 11, 2008


I used to eat squirrel -- it's pretty awful the way we made it, which was deep fried. Stringy meat and not much of it. When I told my old Ozarks grandmother that me and my roommate were cooking squirrel, she told me to make sure we took the head off because squirrel brains carried diseases. When I told my roommate that, he said his old Ozarks grandmother said the heads were fine, so I cut the head off mine and he left his on.

He didn't succumb, but I still put my grandmother over his. I mean, squirrel heads?
posted by Bookhouse at 11:22 AM on September 11, 2008 [3 favorites]


I can field dress a squirrel.
posted by Green Eyed Monster at 11:22 AM on September 11, 2008 [2 favorites]




Ah, Squirrel Melts, a classic. I showed the TV Carnage DVD this is on at my university a few years ago, and a bunch of my crunchy vegan friends almost puked in the lecture hall. If memory serves me right, the original tape of this was passed to the TV Carnage guy from Mike Judge.
posted by yellowbinder at 11:34 AM on September 11, 2008


Some friends of mine spent a year roughing it in a cabin, shooting squirrels and adding them to the ongoing stew in the pot hanging over the hearth. At the end of the year, when they went to leave, they found half an inch of lead shot at the bottom of the pot.
posted by StickyCarpet at 11:35 AM on September 11, 2008 [2 favorites]


I ate squirrel as a kid. I am now a vegetarian. Draw all the conclusions you want from that.
posted by hecho de la basura at 11:39 AM on September 11, 2008


I always forget that second safety. Maybe that's why I've never eaten squirrel.
posted by not_on_display at 11:44 AM on September 11, 2008


No. Nooooo. "It's kinda cute [handling the skinned squirrel]. Put his tender little butt in there [into the pot with boiling water]." awww. No!!!

I love squirrels, as pets. Can't eat them. Just couldn't. Like I couldn't a dog or cat. My dad couldn't eat monkeys when he was working in the Philippines for the same reason, he just liked the critters too much personally.

Ok. this is my revenge for you putting up an eating squirrel video. Here's a video of a restaurant that serves all kinds of "penis dishes" in China.
posted by nickyskye at 11:49 AM on September 11, 2008


We found a squirrel skull with some of the skin still hanging off of it behind the bench on my parents' back deck last night.
Somebody enjoyed eating the rest of it.
posted by sandraregina at 11:52 AM on September 11, 2008


Squirrels are okay. Everyone knows it's groundhog that's truly good eating.
posted by Thorzdad at 11:53 AM on September 11, 2008 [1 favorite]


This isn't some kind of metaphor.
Goddamn this is real!
posted by brevator at 11:54 AM on September 11, 2008


Anybody up for creole squirrel on biscuits?
posted by rusty at 11:56 AM on September 11, 2008


GOOD

Damn thing ate my last tomato. :-(
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 11:57 AM on September 11, 2008


Real rednecks eat possum.

But probably not possum tartare.

Anybody remember "Travels in Georgia" by John McPhee? It was a 1973 New Yorker profile of a wildlife biologist who collected and consumed all manner of roadkill.
posted by beagle at 11:57 AM on September 11, 2008


Everyone knows it's groundhog that's truly good eating.
'Round these parts we crossbreed the groundhog with the woodchuck for some excellent meat. You can even find it in the grocery stores.
It's called groundchuck.
posted by Floydd at 12:04 PM on September 11, 2008 [2 favorites]


Mike West's Squirrel Stuff.
posted by brennen at 12:04 PM on September 11, 2008


Get you a Joy of Cooking from mid century and read up. Them's good eatin'.
posted by seanmpuckett at 12:24 PM on September 11, 2008


I would have to be super hungry to murder a cute little squirrel. I had a pet squirrel when I was a kid. I can't imagine getting excited over killing one. *sigh* When he gets older, no doubt he will say things like, "Look ma, I am conserving nature, by killing it".
posted by Mr_Zero at 12:33 PM on September 11, 2008


I like squirrel parboiled, then quartered, floured and fried. It takes a fair number of squirrels to make a meal, though. Ideally, someone else gets them for me. In fact, one of the happiest occasions in my humble day-to-days is when I see my namesake come trotting home across the snow with a rabbit in her jaws (I think squirrel's generally better than wild rabbit, but they're pretty similar), and I can clean it and cook it and we share it. What a pleasure. She's getting older and isn't so fast or so sharp anymore, though, so maybe she's brought home her last rabbit to share. Sigh.
posted by Wolfdog at 12:44 PM on September 11, 2008 [1 favorite]


This is not incompatible with having had squirrels and rabbits as much-loved pets, somehow. I don't know how that works, it just does.
posted by Wolfdog at 12:46 PM on September 11, 2008


I like squirrel but haven't had it in a long time. Usually we had squirrel sauce piquant when I was a kid.

Clean up your shotguns kids, squirrel season opens in 3 weeks.
posted by turbodog at 12:48 PM on September 11, 2008 [1 favorite]


Here are some more fish & game recipes (with video!) from the Missouri Department of Conservation, including squirrel, rabbit, and venison. Ahh, my tax dollars at work.
posted by jedicus at 1:08 PM on September 11, 2008


Squirrel stew is really good - I ate a lot of it as a kid. I'm amazed at how many people freak out at the idea.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 1:10 PM on September 11, 2008


EAT ME.
posted by sciurus at 1:21 PM on September 11, 2008 [1 favorite]


I'm not entirely sure if I've ever shared this story on MeFi, so forgive me if this is a repeat:

Years ago, my rather young and naive self and then SO were traveling by car through Louisiana when I spotted a sign: "Cajun Squirrel Dogs: $2". I immediately became rather excited and begged, sans explanation, to stop at the place that had Cajun Squirrel Dogs immediately.

We pulled over.

I rush from the car, run to the stand and freeze, mouth agape and eyes slowly beginning to tear at what I see before me.

Now, a normal adult would expect to find exactly what I found at the Cajun Squirrel Dog: $2 stand. I, unfortunately, was not a normal adult. I barged right up to that stand fully expecting to find a pen full of squirrel-catching dogs, along with all of their little squirrel friends!), for only $2 a piece. This, needless to say, was NOT what I found.

My innocence brutally torn from me, I paid the vendor $4 and found that Cajun Squirrel Dogs were a bit too spicy for my taste. The SO never did let me live that down.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 1:26 PM on September 11, 2008 [4 favorites]




I remember seeing this a few months ago. My favorite line: "you know how squirrels love nuts!"

I was surprised at how much meat she got off that little thing. Then someone pointed out that Northern Squirrels are larger than the ones down here.
posted by lysdexic at 2:11 PM on September 11, 2008


Yeah. Thems was definitely country squirrels. City squirrels aren't got as much meat on em. Mmmm hmmm.
posted by heyho at 2:47 PM on September 11, 2008


Anybody remember "Travels in Georgia" by John McPhee?

That's one of my favorite essays! I even went to Cumberland Island because of it. Haven't eaten possum and squirrel yet tho.
posted by goofyfoot at 3:52 PM on September 11, 2008


The only way I've had it was fried, and I thought it was awful. Nowhere near as good as rabbit.

The cats really loved the innards, though.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 4:18 PM on September 11, 2008


For the first 5 years of my life, I lived in a rural setting, out in the sticks, on a farm. Well, my dad was one of those manly-man types, so at age 4 we took a family camping trip in our customized school bus, and he helped me hold up a rifle and I shot a squirrel. First shot too, knocked it right out of the tree. Not bad for a 4 year old. I didn't really like killing it, but it was expected of me, sooo... (The shooting gift was real too -- I was a great marksman in the Army years later.)

It tasted okay. Nothing to write home about. I never had a hankering for more, but if I was hungry and there was nothing else around, well...okay, gimme some squirrel.
posted by jamstigator at 4:54 PM on September 11, 2008


between this lady and sarah palin, we've just eliminated moose and squirrel for good

"and now for something you'll really like!"
posted by jonmc at 5:18 PM on September 11, 2008


I hope the R & D department over at McDonalds never sees this.
posted by dougzilla at 5:22 PM on September 11, 2008 [1 favorite]


For the first 5 years of my life, I lived in a rural setting, out in the sticks, on a farm. Well, my dad was one of those manly-man types, so at age 4 we took a family camping trip in our customized school bus, and he helped me hold up a rifle and I shot a squirrel. First shot too, knocked it right out of the tree. Not bad for a 4 year old. I didn't really like killing it, but it was expected of me, sooo... (The shooting gift was real too -- I was a great marksman in the Army years later.)

It tasted okay. Nothing to write home about. I never had a hankering for more, but if I was hungry and there was nothing else around, well...okay, gimme some squirrel.
posted by jamstigator at 5:51 PM on September 11, 2008


Ack, sorry double post, connectivity issues apparently. Much apologies!
posted by jamstigator at 5:51 PM on September 11, 2008


Wait Metafilter, you're better than this. How is procuring your own high protein, locally grown, organic, high-population meat worse than buying X package at the store? I mean, seriously? Do the acorns that squirrels eat keep grain from a starving person, like grain to a cow?

On metafilter we eat raw fish, we discuss whether to eat a taco left on a table for 20 minutes. We obsess over randomness, and we make fun of "american redneck food" while we praise "rural asian cuisine." I don't get it. The fact that so many of ya'll have crazy food issues just reinforces to me how very different and weird we really all are here, and how it's generally so amazing that we get anything done.

Squirrel is good. Rabbit is good. Turtle, pretty awesome. Anyone who eats meat should, at some point in their life, be responsible for the kill and slaughter of something they eat. If you can't do that, you shouldn't eat meat.

Now, for the record, that little puke blew that shot, and I'da been thumped for it. Looks like he's using a 16 or a 20 gauge, no reason it wasn't dead when it hit the ground. We only ever used .410's, but then...I got my shotgun merit badge with that gun too. ;-) (see, that's an inside reference. Shooting skeet with a single shot .410 is...sort of...difficult.)
posted by TomMelee at 7:31 PM on September 11, 2008 [4 favorites]


We used to hunt squirrels with a .22, pop 'em through the head. But it gets a bit difficult as you get older, and when you're hunting cat squirrels. They're fast little boogars, and they don't freeze on the trees like a red squirrel. No, these days, I blow the hell out of them with a 12 gauge.
posted by bradth27 at 8:12 PM on September 11, 2008


When I was 4, my dad field dressed a squirrel on our chain link in the front yard of our inner city house. I think he was trying to teach me about nature or something. My mom was not so pleased when she came outside and my dad was using the top ends of the fence (where two strands twist together) to hold the squirrel steady as he removed the skin with a pocket knife.

The other thing I learned from my dad's carcass stripping? If you breathe while stripping the bowels out of a deer, whatever gas you might inhale will pass through you and make your farts smell like deer guts.
posted by daHIFI at 11:53 AM on September 12, 2008


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