Squirrel Stew

Okay, so if you're anti-hunting, or sensitive about animals, this might not be the post for you. Just sayin'. Today is a special day, since you get two posts today ;)

Over the summer, my friend Daniel walked into our class and said, "Hey Allie. How do you cook squirrel?" And there it started. A friend of his was moving and didn't want to move all the meat in her freezer. In this batch of meat is what he thought was 2 squirrels but which we now know was actually 4 of them. We had some discussion on the various techniques for cooking squirrel meat (I did actually have to research this, since it's not a game meat I'd eaten before), and then I forgot all about it. Until a week or so ago. For the final project in one of our classes, we were also having a potluck. Squirrel stew was brought up, and we went for it.

Daniel came over and we made the stew. It made significantly more than either of us expected, actually filling the 6-quart crock pot. The broth we made is one of the better ones I've ever seen come out of my kitchen. And by the way, did you know squirrel tastes like turkey? Really, really good turkey? I didn't. Here's how we made the stew. I'm sure this recipe won't actually help anyone who reads this blog, but I hope you enjoy reading it!

Broth:

1/2 teaspoon each: dill seed, allspice, peppercorns, juniper berries
1 tablespoon each: salt, sage
2 each: cloves, bay leaves, carrots broken in half, celery broken in half
5 each: dried shallot slices, dried shitake mushrooms
1 each: dried galangal slice, star anise, onion cut into quarters, dried chile arbol
3 omani (dried limes)
4 squirrels
water

Combine all the ingredients in a large pot or dutch oven (I used the 7-quart Le Creuset dutch oven) and bring to a boil. Boil for about 2 hours, or until the squirrel is falling off the bone, replenishing water as needed. Remove squirrels to a cutting board. Remove large pieces of everything else, then strain the broth into a large crock pot.

Stew:

2 bay leaves
1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes
2 large onions, chopped
2 large russet potatoes, chopped
1/2 cup dried porcini mushrooms
1/2 cup truffle vodka
1/8 cup rosemary vinegar
2 celery hearts, chopped
1 pound carrots, chopped
1 tablespoon salt
broth from above
squirrel meat from 4 squirrels

Debone the squirrel and put all the meat into the crockpot with the broth. Add all the other ingredients and cover. Cook in the crockpot overnight. Makes 6 quarts.

Comments

  1. Alyse11:24 AM

    Love squirrel.

    Very good with milk gravy, mashed potatoes, and biscuits. I'm a Kentucky girl, haha.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Allie5:04 PM

    Alyse,

    I too love squirrel, it turns out. Sounds great to do w/ gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lentil, Chick Pea and Eggplant Boil

Image
Sorry for the delay. I actually made this days ago, but due to my busy school schedule (yay! The semester is finally almost over!), I didn't have time until now to post it. I always forget about lentils. I always have them in the house, and like them quite a bit, but most of the time, they don't even exist as an option in my head. I don't know why that is. I've been telling P for a while now I wanted to eat more lentils, so finally I just made some. I also decided to take this as an opportunity to use up some spare veggies laying about. Hope you enjoy! 1/2 anise bulb, sliced 1 small onion, cut into rings 1/2 jalepeno, minced 1 tablespoon olive oil salt to taste 1 cup yellow potato, cubed 2 cups cubed and peeled eggplant 1/3 cup pitted kalamata olives, cut into quarters 1 cup lentils 3 - 4 1/2 cups water 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1/4 teaspoon each: clove, cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground coriander seed 1/2 preserved lemon, diced 1 roma tomato, chopped 1 cup mixe...
Read more

Gems, Lovely Gems

Image
I actually have a bit more homework than I anticipated, so today I just want to tell you guys about gems. It appears that no one really knows what gems are anymore, but back in the 1800s they were a popular, if heavy, treat. So much so, that many pioneers even found room in their wagons to bring a gem pan. By the early 1900s, gems had fallen out of favour and most people just went with muffins. It's a sad, sad thing, really. Traditionally, gem pans were made from cast iron. You can still find beautiful, old cast iron pans on eBay. In fact, aside from scouring antique shops hopefully (and often fruitlessly), eBay is the only place I know that routinely "carries" them. You can find a proper gem pan for as little as US$5, and I've seen them as much as US$300. You just never really know. My advice, however, is to find one that's shallow, made in the mid-1800s (this is when the pans were really in their prime, quality-wise), and in extremely poor condition. I say to fi...
Read more

Bergamot Curd

Image
As promised, here is the curd recipe. This is perfect for scones, toast, just to eat, or for an unusual twist on the filling typically used in those little fruit tarts. If bergamots are not available to you, you could always use lemon, Seville orange, sweet types of orange (cut the sugar a bit though), lime, pomello, grapefruit or any other citrus. Enjoy! 9 ounces freshly squeezed bergamot juice 2 tablespoons finely grated zest 1 1/2 cups sugar 6 eggs 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt 12 tablespoons butter, cut into 1 tablespoon bits Whisk all but butter into a saucepan. Begin to heat over medium low heat and add all the butter. Whisking periodically, cook until the whisk marks stay in the curd. Pack into sterilised jars (or you can just put this in a jar and put it in the fridge, if you don't want to can it) and process 15 minutes. Makes about 3 cups.
Read more