Growing up my grandpa shot squirrels and cooked them. It was years ago, and I can't remember what he did? Anyone with info start with please start from skinning? We got plenty this year and I figure need to start thinning them out. Thanks in advance

Chicken frying them is hard to beat but I have also grilled them.

As a kid I would shoot them all time with my pellet gun. I would season them with a pork rub, then put a boudain or 2 inside it. Coat with a little olive oil and wrap in foil and slow cook on grill. Pretty good

skinning is not hard, just make a Y at arms and legs... cut bellym then I would wack tail, feet and head off. Pull hide off then gut it.

The way I skin them these days is to cut a slit longways between the shoulders and them pull both ways. Then chop the feet, head and pull the guts out.

Fried and smothered in onions with gravy is pretty good. Another good way is to parboil them with an onion, celery, peppercorns, carrots, etc..like you would a chicken to make stock. Remove the squirrel and debone, strain the stock and toss the solids. Put the meat back in with the stock and add whatever you want for critter stew. Tastes pretty good on a chilly evening.

Clean whole, stuff it with an onion and 1/4 stick of real butter, bake at 325 for 1 hour. Throw away the squirrel and eat the onion.

If they are young, I love them chicken fried. If they are old, Mrs. Hag pressure cooks them with salt, pepper, celery, and onions, debones them and puts them in dumplins. You can also fry them after pressure cooking.

I know how to skin and gut them,I was more looking for step by step after that if you guys don't mind. Do you debone them if you plan on frying them? If so, what size pieces do you cut em up before you batter em? Also, what kind of texture do they have, and how tender are they usually? Thanks again guys.

dumplings first and then tamales. lots of squirrel tamales out there

Par boil them, first. Cut in quarters and deep fry. The parboil will make them tender. The texture is just like dark meat on a chicken.

Oh,ok. Thanks for the tips guys!

Please describe par boil.
Thanks

You don't eat squirrels

There, I fixed it for you.

Bring a pot of water to a boil, add the food (vegetables, meat or whatever), wait until it comes back to a full boil and remove.

Depending on what you are parboiling, you may want to dip the results in ice water to stop the cooking.

I agree with boiling them except I boil them for a while to make them good and tender. Then you can chicken fry, smother, or make dumplings.

My favorite is smothering. Cut them up, boil (but you don't have to with this method), roll them in flour and brown them. Then add water and put the lid on with the fire on low. This will make make some good gravy. Use cast iron if you can.

The way I have done rabit and squirel is to put in a baking pan poor some italian dressing on them and back at 275-300 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. After that you can just eat it, or I have chicken fried it as well and it was good.

matt

Slow cook in pan with cream of chicken soup along with veggies & some chunks of buttermilk biscuits. Kind of like Squirel -n- dumplins I guess. Simmer a couple of hrs & add salt & pepper to taste.

dumplins is the way to go

Sounds like dumplings is the way to go, but frying sounds good too. Can't wait to try!!

My grandmother would pressure cook them with some cream of mushroom soup over rice.

Boil them and use in gumbo or with dumplings.

Also look up recipe for Brunswick stew. I hear it is good too.

pressure cook and fry with some cream gravy...hard to beat

I agree with all of the above.......cahlets skinning is in my opinion is a very good way to do it...Squirrel dumplings is so good...