Squirrel: the tastiest rodent you've never eaten

With only five weeks of this winter's small game season remaining in Minnesota, Bluestem readers might be wondering what to do with all the extra squirrel in the freezer.

A recipe from my native Blue Earth County can help: squirrel stroganoff.

This dish, fine comfort food (not comfortable for the squirrels of course), comes my way via "Tastes of Amboy" cookbook and was contributed to the cookbook celebrating the town's 125th anniversary by Lisa Durkee, who runs the Amboy Cottage Cafe.

First, you'll need to get some squirrels; they are fairly abundant in local woods and attics, but we recommend chasing them out of your attic before taking aim. Then cook up this recipe.

2 dressed and cut up grey or fox squirrels
2 sliced onions
3 cloves chopped garlic
1 1/2 c. flour
8 oz sliced mushrooms, sauted
2 c. sour cream
1/3 c. oil
Salt and pepper to taste
6 servings egg noodles

Combine flour, salt and pepper. Dredge squirrel pieces in the flour. Brown the squirrel in oil. Add onion to brown slightly. Add garlic and turn pieces. Add 3 cups of water. Cover and simmer until tender (about two hours). Add mushrooms and sour cream to gravy. Salt and pepper to taste. Return to pot and serve over noodles with plenty of napkins.

Bluestem recommend putting the napkins on the side. Squirrel is quite tasty, and like nearly all wild game, lean, local and antibiotic-free. Some cooks prefer to make their squirrel stroganoff with bacon and other additional ingredients, but this recipes is both simple and elegant. Squirrel meat is sweet and nutty, as one might expect from their diet of acorns and the like.

Photo:  A grey squirrel.

Comments

[Nightthief]

Sounds tasty! Now just need to find some squirrels...

[Phoenix Woman]

Isn't trying to cut around some of the glands a bit of a chore?

[Nancy Gertner]

Now she publishes the recipe, years after I chased the squirrels out of the attic. Actually hired someone to deport them to a neighboring county!