Squirrel recipes?

I have been looking for squirrel recipes (although we have several we like already), mostly because many of them are off-limits to me due to the fact that I can't eat wheat AT ALL, and many recipes call for flour at some point. You can substitute corn meal sometimes, but often there is no good sub for flour. So I'd be interested in hearing what anybody likes. Another thing about squirrels is this: some of them are really, really tough and some of them are really tender...but it doesn't seem to be directly related to their age, which I find surprising. The first one I cooked (I've done about 35 so far) was a big old male, and not knowing any better, I pan fried him. He was delicious. So when we did a second one this time we baked it with a piece of bacon on each piece of squirrel. Again, delicious. No problem, we thought - let's have friends over! So we did, and cooked up four squirrels exactly like the last one. Everybody was polite, but they were near inedible, they were so tough - it was awful. But weirdly, the next day I tried having some leftovers for lunch and bingo - the piece I grabbed was tender and perfect. It turns out that three of the four were super tough and one (which, of course, nobody got at the dinner - talk about luck) was just like the first two.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

You may be cooking them too long. That will make them tough. I always let mine soak in salt water in the fridge over night before I do anything with them.

DW bakes them in a bed of rice and dried onion soup and canned mushroom soup....(would need to check contents to see about wheat.)
You never know what you are gonna get as far as tough or tender.

Havn't really mess with squirrels for a long time....but this go to recipe is good for game birds and rabbits as well.

I put my tree rats in a pressure cooker with potatos, carrots, onion cook for 8-12minutes depending on size, tender fall off the bone

Thanks for all the answers. I’m not sure about the cooking too long part - if we cooked one too long, wouldn’t we cook all of them too long (referring to the incident with 3 out of 4 being tough as nails and the other being tender)? After that time we have only used the slow cooker, braising the crap out of them. But even so - last time, we had 3 in the cooker and two of them were tough and one was not. This is hard to figure out! These are Eastern Grays by the way, if it makes a difference.

I don’t have a pressure cooker, but I would think that the effect would be at least similar to using a slow cooker for 2 1/2 hours.

So far, our favorite recipe is ardillas con achiote verde. Guaranteed to be something your neighbors have not had! That achiote verde sauce is killer. You can buy it in Mexican super mercados, or you can make your own. Either way, dynamite.

Just got done smoking 8 skins for 45 minutes in the late afternoon, relaxing with a shot of bourbon. Now my hands and everything else smells like a camp fire. As Agent Cooper in Twin Peaks said, "This is where pies go when they die." :)

PS: I soak them overnight in salt water. Forgot to mention that. Strange, I just posted a more detailed reply and it said that the post had to be approved by a moderator, but this one went straight through.

Not sure why your previous post went to moderation, but it's up now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Graf

I put my tree rats in a pressure cooker with potatos, carrots, onion cook for 8-12minutes depending on size, tender fall off the bone

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Hehehe... he said tree rats, some ol' rich woman who donates to Peta is going to haunt you!

I have your back... I like pressure cookers & fresh squirrel
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-weQacFrp5t...0/DSC_4717.JPG

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wise Old Owl

Hehehe... he said tree rats, some ol' rich woman who donates to Peta is going to haunt you!

I have your back... I like pressure cookers & fresh squirrel
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-weQacFrp5t...0/DSC_4717.JPG

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Have her PM me I'll cook her some tree rat haha

Salt pepper garlic powder pan fry then put in a crock pot with a couple of packages of chicken gravy cook on high for 4 hours then make some rice and server over the rice.

Campfire, sharp stick, salt and pepper!

squirrels can be tough sometimes, but as many have mentioned they can be softened up easy enough. The ones that moves their tails around quicker are the younger and more tender ones. I don't think I ever had any that weren't salted in water over night. When we got a lot of them my grandmother would want the heads only. That was always her part and the part she preferred.

Squirrel brains are good fried

I have plenty of recipies just no squirrels. owls hawks cats the dog cyotes.
yep they all got'em.