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http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/food/story/0,,2279357,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront

The ultimate ethical meal: a grey squirrel


It tastes sweet, like a cross between lamb and duck. And it's selling as fast as butchers can get it

(http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2008/05/10/Grey-squirrel-372x192.jpg)

It's low in fat, low in food miles and completely free range. In fact, some claim that Sciurus carolinensis - the grey squirrel - is about as ethical a dish as it is possible to serve on a dinner plate.

The grey squirrel, the American cousin of Britain's endangered red variety, is flying off the shelves faster than hunters can shoot them, with game butchers struggling to keep up with demand. 'We put it on the shelf and it sells. It can be a dozen squirrels a day - and they all go,' said David Simpson, the director of Kingsley Village shopping centre in Fraddon, Cornwall, whose game counter began selling grey squirrel meat two months ago.

Article continues
At Ridley's Fish and Game shop in Corbridge, Northumberland, the owner David Ridley says he has sold 1,000 - at £3.50 a squirrel - since he tested the market at the beginning of the year. 'I wasn't sure at first, and wondered would people really eat it. Now I take every squirrel I can get my hands on. I've had days when I have managed to get 60 and they've all sold straight away.'

Simpson likens the taste to wild boar. Ridley thinks it is more a cross between duck and lamb. 'It's moist and sweet because, basically, its diet has been berries and nuts,' he said.

Both believe its new-found popularity is partly due to its green credentials. 'People like the fact it is wild meat, low in fat and local - so no food miles,' says Simpson. Ridley reckons that patriotism also plays a part: 'Eat a grey and save a red. That's the message.'

A glut of back-to-the-wild TV programmes featuring celebrity chefs such as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has also tickled the public's palate, but squirrel is still unlikely to be found in the family fridge. The Observer's restaurant critic, Jay Rayner, said he had never tasted squirrel, but if he did have it for dinner 'it would have to be a big, fat country squirrel and not one of the mangy urban ones you see in cities'.

'People may say they are buying it because it's green and environmentally friendly, but really they're doing it out of curiosity and because of the novelty value. If they can say, "Darling, tonight we're having squirrel", then that takes care of the first 30 minutes of any dinner party conversation. I see it remaining a niche. There's not much meat on a squirrel, so I'd be surprised if farming squirrel takes off anywhere some time soon.'

Kevin Viner, former chef-proprietor of Pennypots, the first Michelin-starred restaurant in Cornwall, who now runs Viners bar and restaurant at Summercourt, believes it will remain a niche market. But with a plentiful supply of meat - there are estimated to be almost five million grey squirrels in Britain - there is room for the market to expand.

Viner - who comes from a rural 'if you shot it, you ate it' background - said the trick was to serve squirrel fresh and not to leave it hanging like other game. 'It looks a lot like rabbit, though it is a drier meat and slightly firmer. Most of the meat comes off the rear leg. The loins are so thin they need much shorter cooking time,' he said.

'A large squirrel would be enough for one-and-a-half people. The public really are being drawn to it. I think that it's because it is being perceived as a healthy meat. Southern fried squirrel is good. And tandoori style works. It is especially tasty fricasséed with Cornish cream and walnuts. But the one everyone seems to like is the Cornish squirrel pasty.'

And his own favourite recipe? 'I must admit, I'm a beef man myself,' he said. 'But my huntsman swears by squirrel with sausage meat and bacon.'

How to make squirrel pasties
Kevin Viner's recipe for two pasties

140g squirrel meat cut into 1cm cubes;

100g sliced potato; 100g sliced swede; 50g diced onion; 30g smoked bacon;

15g chopped hazelnuts; 75g butter;

5g chopped parsley; a good pinch of salt and pepper

Method

· Egg wash edges of pastry circles.

· Place the potato, swede, hazelnuts, parsley and seasoning on to each circle followed by the bacon, squirrel meat and, finally, the onion.

· Place butter in each pasty, then fold over the pastry and crimp the edges.

· Put the pasties on to a greaseproof baking tray, egg wash both pasties well, place in a pre-heated oven at 180C or gas mark 5.

· Bake for 45-50 minutes. The juices should start to boil and the pasties should be able to move on the tray with ease.

might as well eat rats.

only if they are city bushy tailed rats...i mean squirrels


my cousins (yes we are southerners) went out and shot a few from the back porch thelast time we were down there. they is pretty tasty.

Hey now, squirrel isn't really that bad.

A lot like rabbit.

I'd eat it again if we actually had squirrels in north dakota.

Guess it's hard to have squirrels when your state tree is a telephone pole.

When I was in college, some buddies and I shot a bunch of squirrels, and the way home, we did a little drinking.  Once home (and drunk), we found nothing in the kitchen to make with the squirrels.  Consequently, we gutted and skinned them, and lined 'em up on a baking sheet and popped them in the oven.  What emerged after 30 minutes at 400°F took away our appetites.  :-X


Oh, and rabbit is much better.

That's because you cooked 'em wrong.

The question here reverend is, is there a right way to cook them?

There is a right way to cook all things......



.....and that would be fried in bacon fat.

We have a winner! [thumbsup]

I'll have a recipe up here by next week.

Just gotta talk to my pops.



Bout time you step out of the shadows.

You have to see what I posted in MADDOG.

Like I said I'm working on getting banned on TOB.  I have so far received 2 "infractions" for spamming.  They haven't found my other posts yet.

Here's a recipe for BACON FRIED SQUIRREL

Ingredients :

4   x   young squirrels each cut 6 to 8
        pieces
1/2   tsp   salt
1/2   tsp   freshly-ground black pepper
1/2   tsp   garlic powder
1/4   cup   all-purpose flour
8   slc   bacon chopped
1/4   cup   onion sliced
2   x   celery stalks sliced
1   tbl   fresh rosemary leaves minced
2   tsp   lemon juice
1   cup   chicken broth
4   cup   warm cooked rice

   Method :

    * Combine salt, pepper, garlic powder and flour. Dredge squirrels in flour mixture.
    * Cook bacon in a heavy skillet over medium heat until browned. Fry squirrel pieces in bacon grease until medium brown. Add remaining ingredients and reduce heat to simmer. Cover and cook for about 1 1/2 hours or until squirrel pieces are tender.
    * Serve with warm rice.
    * This recipe yields 4 servings.
    * Comments: Anything fried, squirrel included, tastes pretty good. The squirrels are first fried and then simmered in liquid until tender. Young squirrels taste much better than old ones. If you are worried about fat and cholesterol, eat a carrot.

....and people think Ducati riders are snobs....

Read the last line! ;D



I'll eat damn near anything.

Funny what some people eat... snails, clams, oysters.... bottom feeders.

damn right.

Squirrel obstacle course:
http://www.maniacworld.com/squirrel-obstacle-course.html

Too funny, a colleague was just over from the UK saying how their red squirrels a re in danger. Maybe not for long. [laugh]

If anyone is interested in squirrel, come on over.  You have to kill,dress and cook them. Since this is the city, discretion and, if a fire arm is used, silencers are required.  Also, shooting the neighbors and thier houses is not allowed.  Well, maybe some neighbors [evil].  Free Moto parking.

i wouldn't eat one from the city. there's no telling what they picked up from the rats and garbage.

Damn that's funny!  [laugh]  [laugh]

The squirrels in my yard eat well.  They eat out of my garden.

they are still the busy tailed rats from NYC. i don't trust them

I once had a pet squirrel for a few months.  He was pretty cute.

and you loved him and petted him and named him george?

Oscar, actually. [laugh]

This was years ago in Connecticut.  My then-boyfriend found him as a baby lost/abandoned by his mother in a bad storm.  The local Humane Society was not willing to help, so we nursed him back to health.  He loved to climb all over me, it was really cute except for a couple things:
- he couldn't distinguish skin from clothing, just dug his little claws in no matter what
- one time he was on top of my head, and I started to feel something wet there - yep, he peed on me :P

At one point I had him on my shoulder and was hanging out outside, something he was used to.  A car backfired right behind me and he got scared, jumped into a tree and ran away.