Ballista;
When I was a kid, and my Parents, and Brother, and Grandfather and I would go down to the Big Cypress, for Hunting season. My brother and I would go squirrel hunting. That was when we could shoot fox squirrels down here. Anyway, my Mother would Fry some, and the others she would make like chicken and dumplings, or squirrel stew. As for the squirrel pot pie, a simple recipe is to boil the squirrel till tender, and then put it in a baking dish, and add some chopped sweet onions, and some chopped garlic, salt and pepper, a little canjun season, and put in a small bag of diced mixed vegetables, peas carrots, corn, beans, etc., then cover it with a can of cream of chicken, or cream of mushroom, and then make your own dough, or store bought, and roll it out, and put on top of the mixture, and put it in the oven, and when the dough is nice and brown, take it out, and enjoy! As for the stew, do just as you would a beef stew. Just add the squirrel, and seasonings, and bring to a boil, and then simmer for an hour, and then add, some sliced potatoes, diced inion, stewed tomato if you want, or if you want a mulligan or brunswick stew, add okra, and mixed diced vegetables, and the stewed tomatoes, and let it cook for another 45 minutes, to an hours. Basically just use the squirrel as replacement meat for your favorite recipes. you can make a nice sandwhich spread, by boiling the squirrel, and then simmering for a couple of hours, with some diced onions, and garlic, salt, pepper, cajun seasoning, maybe some celery, or put it in a pressure cooker, and add the seasonings, and onion, and garlic, and then let it cool, and strain it. Then remove the bones, and put the meat and onions, and garlic, mixture in a food processor, and process to the consistency you like, and there you have a nice sandwhich, or cracker spread, while hunting, or watching your favorite hunting show. I used to take left over chicken, pork, beef, etc. and do that minus the seasonings, and make cat food, my cat. Speaking of shows, The Canadian Guy rules! The Bear Gryllys guy is indeed an idiot wuss! The Canadian guy not only shows you factual stuff, but actually does it, by himself, without the motor homes, or flight back to the hotel. I will be glad when they take Bear Gryllys off the air. Anyway there are a " Plethora " of recipes out there. Like I said, just take your favorite recipe and replace the meat with squirrel meat. I sure miss my Mother's squirrel stew. She too would also fry them, and then cover them with a nice gravy and put it over rice, and sometimes noodles. Dang, now I'm hungry! Ah the lowly tree rat, sure is in the gourmet aisle! Lets hear about some musk rat recipes, also know as known as long island black duck or something like that, during the depression era. Supposed to be very delicious. I know they are a heck of a lot bigger than I thought they were. I saw some for the first time, when I was in Montana, a few years back. As for skinning them, I do like mullet. I just cut around the middle of the squirrel, all the way around, then I just hook two fingers of each hand under the skin, and pull in opposite directions. Like Eddie said it's easier, be for rigor mortis sets in.
Wayne
