Tree rats, what am I missing?

[TheRealSpurhunter]

I've never hunted them but have killed a pile in my life. Mostly in the backyard out of my wife's garden of bird feeder. Decided to clean four that I killed Wednesday. Seasoned flour, pan seared with some onions and into a dish with wine and oil for a 30 min bake. Still a little tough so another 20 mins. Overall not bad, just nothing to write home about.

What's your method? And please dot say bacon, if I have to use bacon to make something edible, I ain't eating it.

My backyard is solid hickory trees, I can kill 5-8 per day and they never stop coming, all year long. (Killed 52 two years ago)
It's insanity that there could be so many in one place.

 

[TNCharlie]

I'm sure that you will get some good suggestions. Mine would be to sprinkle them with some meat tenderizer and parboil them for 15-20 minutes and then cook them however you like'em. Your recipe sounds just fine to me.

 

[pressfit]

pressure cook them and then fry, or make squirrel and dumplings...

 

[TAFKAP]

Brining works wonders.

 

[chunkandwind]

Brine for sure. My favorite brine for squirrel is soy sauce,olive oil, just a tiny bit of sesame oil, ginger, a little rice wine vinegar, lemon grass and sugar.

 

[waterman]

we fry them in butter till almost done then cover them in chicken stock and simmer about 2 hrs. remove meat and add corn starch slurry to pan to thicken juices into sauce/gravy. serve with mashed taters.

 

[Rhianna]

pressure cook them and then fry, or make squirrel and dumplings...

x2

 

[TAFKAP]

Brine for sure. My favorite brine for squirrel is soy sauce,olive oil, just a tiny bit of sesame oil, ginger, a little rice wine vinegar, lemon grass and sugar.

That's not a brine. That's a marinade. Use that after you brine it�.because it sounds like a pretty good marinade.

 

[TheRealSpurhunter]

Brine for sure. My favorite brine for squirrel is soy sauce,olive oil, just a tiny bit of sesame oil, ginger, a little rice wine vinegar, lemon grass and sugar.

That's not a brine. That's a marinade. Use that after you brine it�.because it sounds like a pretty good marinade.

I was thinking the same thing.


I realy appreciate all the tips here, I will be stacking up some more of the little bass terds soon and try some of these.

 

[JimFromTN]

Problem with the pressure cooker/ parboil method, unless you are making stock, is that you lose all of the intrinsic flavor of squirrel. Granted, you can flavor the meat how you want it from there, but it does not taste like squirrel. It's a short cut to tenderness the same way boiling ribs is a short cut. That being said, I'd rather see people boiling and eating squirrel than not eating it at all, so whatever works.

This is a bad thing????

 

[TAFKAP]

Yes.....squirrel is delicious. If you're going to go through all this trouble to hunt, dress, butcher, & cook squirrel down into some sort of bland muscle tissue that tastes like the spices you cook with, why not just buy tilapia?

 

[pressfit]

I havent really noticed it loosing that much squirrel taste... I do know some of them if you dont parboil them are like eating shoe leather..the more you chew the bigger it gets...

 

[TheRealSpurhunter]

Yes.....squirrel is delicious. If you're going to go through all this trouble to hunt, dress, butcher, & cook squirrel down into some sort of bland muscle tissue that tastes like the spices you cook with, why not just buy tilapia?

Hence my utter dislike of any recipe, ESPECIALLY when dealing with wild game that calls for bacon. I LOVE bacon, I just refuse to use it as a crutch to flavor food into edible status.

 

[TAFKAP]

I havent really noticed it loosing that much squirrel taste... I do know some of them if you dont parboil them are like eating shoe leather..the more you chew the bigger it gets...

Before you solidify this opinion, try brining one first.

 

[Crosshairy]

my dad is still my favorite squirrel cook. He pan-fries a lot of squirrels, and they are always tender and great. His most common method is to throw them into a crock pot with salt and water for 2-3 hours on the "high" setting.

The goal is to soften them some without making them fall apart. If they get too soft, then you have just inadvertently decided that you are cooking stew or squirrel & dumplings (which I also highly recommend).

After the crock pot, coat them in flour (I'm going to try almond meal this year for a gluten-free version), salt, and pepper. Garlic salt is another good seasoning option.

Fry until crispy brown, and try to turn them only once so that the breading stays intact.

If making dumplings, just follow your favorite dumpling recipe but substitute for chicken. De-bone the squirrel after ~ 3-4 hours in the crock pot and return meat to the broth. The squirrel will make its own stock that is pretty respectable, but I sometimes add some chicken stock or fat to it if it's not heavy enough (usually due to only cooking 1-2 squirrels).