Squirrel Stew for Dinner
My nephew Christian came to visit with my mom this weekend. Christian is an avid hunter and fisherman, but he won’t shoot at an animal unless he knows it is going to be a clean kill shot. So while he spent three full days hunting deer in the woods from sunup to sundown, and spent an hour watching a big doe, a button-buck and a smaller doe nap in the brush below his tree stand, lack of a clean shot meant he came out empty handed, but for the experience of being so close the the creatures as they went about their private business.
Christian fancies himself a young survivalist, and indeed he is more at home in the wilderness than probably 99.9% of adults in our country. So when I asked him what he would do to feed himself since he didn’t get the deer, he simply grinned and went squirrel hunting. I was the lucky benefactor in this case, as I am currently enjoying the aroma of a delicious stew warmed on our wood stove in the living room. Tonight we will be eating squirrel stew and if it tastes half as good as it smells I’ll be a very happy customer.
Attention: The photos below include images that some, especially vegetarians and vegans, may find difficult to view. If you are upset by images of animals that have been killed for food please scroll no further. We eat meat in this family and make no apologies about it. Neither do we suffer well any hostile comments from people who don’t share our dietary habits.
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- The great thing about dutch ovens and wood stoves is you can leave a stew in them all day without worrying about it drying out or burning. This has cooked for well over four hours.
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- Christian got three squirrels yesterday evening. He gutted them first and let them cool overnight. This morning he skinned and pieced them out so I could cook us up a delicious dinner.
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- Christian with one of his three squirrels on a crisp, Janurary morning.
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- Here is what I cooked with. We have milk to make the breading stick, the breading (corn meal, wheat flour and several spices), carrots, onions and potatoes, chicken and an oiled pan. The meat gets battered and flash-fried first to brown it. Then it is added to the dutch oven, where the veggies have bene stewing in chicken broth for a half-hour.
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- Here Christian cuts up the meat. We end up with quarters (two arms, two legs) and the back, where the meat is tender and delicious, but difficult to get at.
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- I browned the squirrel meat before adding it to the dutch oven. This helped keep the breading on and flavor locked-in, among other things.
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- Checking on the squirrel stew as it heats on top of our wood stove.
Category: Food, Funny, The Transplants
Everett writes about voluntary simplicity. This blog catalogs his search for "the good life" as he tries to strike a balance between work and play, freedom and responsibility, simplicity and comfort.
I’m just gonna come out and say it looks delicious! I still have yet to have squirrel myself, but assume its only a matter of time until I do! I’ll have to try this way of preparing it when I do.
Kudos to your nephew, Christian, for his passion. Normally, I’m not a fan of hunting as many hunters I’ve known over the years do it for sport rather than food, etc. However, if you can get a clean shot, eat the meat and – depending on the animal – make good use of the hide, etc., that is worthwhile.
Happy New Year to you, too!
That looks delicious! Thanks for sharing…I’d like to learn how to hunt someday so I can provide my family with healthy, nutritious, and wild meat
Hey Lisa, good to hear from you!
Mike & Adam, indeed it was delicious! The breading was still on the meat, but so soft and flavored that it tasted more like stuffing. I’d compare squirrel to rabbit, but if you haven’t had either I’d say that the dark meat on Chicken comes close to it. As with anything, I’m sure it’s all about how you prepare it. Cooking it fast on high heat would probably make it taste terrible and be difficult to chew. But the crock pot or dutch oven methods seem perfectly suited for small game like this.
Thanks Christian!
You told me what you were having for dinner, but seeing the pictures was nice! How does Missy like it?
*I wonder if that squirrel is related to the squirrel in my blog post!
I’ve had squirrel a time or two. It was alright. Most people around here like it fried or bbq’d in a crock pot. I wish my boyfriend would hunt. I’m all about good meat. I’m sure he’d have no issues if we had a deep freeze.
Looks like great stew. 
Momi Pooted… LOL, Tracy that’s the funniest wordpress blog name I’ve ever heard. Hmm, BBQ’d in a crock pot sounds delicious. We might try that next time around. Works wonders for pork!
Tommy – I tried it. It tasted OK – like dark meat, but I’d rather eat chicken than squirrel, which is what I had for dinner.
Got any frogs?
I recently read an article from a woman hunter who raved about squirrel meat. She said it was nutty in flavor. Is this true?
Diane,
Maybe it depends on their diet, but these didn’t taste nutty. They tasted more like the dark meat on turkey but with some wild game flavor. Personally, I enjoyed it but the process is a lot of work for not very much meat. I think I will only be eating squirrel once in a blue moon, or if I am unable to get a deer.
That looks amazing!