Dressing and Butchering Squirrel
I’d come across this interesting article on the tradition of eating squirrel meat in the US. Apparently, as recently as the 1940s, eating squirrel was very widespread and common. Judging from the many YouTube videos on hunting squirrel for food and cooking squirrel, squirrel eating either never left or has had a renaissance.
From the article:
“The first edition of The Joy of Cooking, published in 1931, was heavy on the squirrel.”
” On Shaw’s book tour this autumn, he was pleasantly surprised to find that squirrel eating was still alive and well in the South. And squirrel was not the only rodent either to persist as a regional delicacy. In Delaware and Maryland, people wanted to talk muskrat, so much so that he thought he was being set up, until he read that it was for sale at local markets.”
Article notes that eating the squirrel’s brain, which is a delicacy in some places, is a no-no in terms of health.
Here are a series of videos from WoodlandTV in the UK on eating, dressing and butchering squirrel (so it is graphic).
Apparently grey squirrels are non-native to the UK, having been imported from America and have decimated the native red squirrels. Was interesting – the guy who made the video is attempting to only eat wild-sourced meat, which means he says he eats a lot of vegetarian meals since he isn’t out hunting every day and he also is focused on eating ethically.:
Country101living uses an air compressor to separate the squirrel’s hide from its flesh:
Here’s another skinning technique from Nevis Walker:
The Real Know How 