how to cook a tree rat

[grisy11]

any one have a good way to cook a tree rat?

[fishnbob]

If all you want is squirrel, try it in a pressure cooker with dumplins' and gravy. mmmhhh, good! But my favorite is cooked off the bone in a cast iron pot, over a wood fire and then add chicken, beef, taters, corn, tomatoes, butter beans, onion, sugar, salt, pepper and red pepper to taste and you have Brunswick Stew! Makes my mouth water!

[waksupi]

Set the tree on fire.

[stubshaft]

Set the tree on fire.

:bigsmyl2: Might get a little well done but I like your thinking!

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I leave them whole after cleaning them.
I sear them on a Hot grill (I use wood coals, but brickets or a gas grill work too)
while on the grill, I flaten them and hold them flat using a cast iron pan.
I sear both sides.
then in a crock pot half full of beef buillion for a fwe hours.
seasonings, I like sage and cummin, and maybe rosemary....OH and a bay leaf.
Jon

[RKJ]

We used to quarter em and then roll the quarters in flour and pan fry. Like you would a chicken, MMMMM good. Especially with some Morels and biscuits and gravy.

[GLL]

I agree with RKJ !
Flour and fry just like chicken ! +Red eye gravy and biscuits ! Wash down with Guinness !

Jerry

[ph4570]

Pressure cook then shred the meat for tacos and such.

[oneokie]

Another vote for dredging in flour and pan frying. The young tender ones. Make squirrel and dumplings with the tough old ones.

[grisy11]

thanks for all the replys.we have a bunch of them around here i will have to try all them

[starmac]

I second the fried like chicken, then smothered in gravy.eees delicious.
The old ones make great squirrel and dumplins, like noted above too.

[wallenba]

Debone, grind with a bit of Crisco, brown in a skillet and use in chili.

[Dale in Louisiana]

Brown, then simmer them in a sauce made with onions and garlic. Add a small stone. When the stone is tender, throw the squirrel out and eat the stone and gravy.

Sorry... I would eat squirrel to survive, but I'm not going out of my way to cook one...

Dale in Louisiana
(who, ironically, thinks that crustaceans dredged from a drainage ditch are just fine...)

[starmac]

You gotta be the only guy in louisiana that don't like squirrels. lol

I didn't think anything that moved was turned down there, I have been fishing there and accused of throwing back a drum that couldn't have been over 3 inches long. The idea was if it bit the bait it was a keeper. lol

[Gee_Wizz01]

Quarter and fry the tender young squirrels, give the tough old males to the dogs!

G

[wallenba]

I'm still not tired of squirrel. In camp we would just roll one up in heavy foil with salt/pepper and a stick of butter, set behind some rocks at the fire and wait. An occasional flare-up from the butter was expected. Not gourmet, but tolerable.
I hate rabbit.

[Dale in Louisiana]

starmac--

Oh, I'll eat it, I just won't go out of my way to get it. Sort of like alligator. Everybody wants to try alligator. I've had it prepared by some fine cooks, and it's, well, if you're gonna waste a lot of time and effort, then waste it on something good...

And you're right about the fish. The "big enough to bite, big enough to keep" rule was in effect when I was a kid.

Dale in Louisiana
(Omnivorous, but picky)

[WRideout]

I grew up in Southern CA, and still think that Wonder Bread is ethnic food. Ate beans and tortillas all my life. Squirrel in Mexican mole (pronounced molay) sauce is really good!. Just use the stuff in a jar; you can get it at WalMart, even in PA. Brown the squirel pieces in oil, then add a few spoonfuls of the mole sauce. Add water or chicken broth to thin it. I suppose the adventurous could use beer. Simmer until tender, serve with rice, beans, tortillas. Works for duck, too.

Wayne

[grisy11]

I had it 30 years ago and i think the man that cooked it dint know how to cook it or the squirrel 40 or 50 years old it was VARY tuff.
Dale in Louisiana do you go out and get Alligator?


grisy11

[starmac]

Dang and I like gator too. lol

[madsenshooter]

Squirrel-b-que. Stuff their little chest cavities with moistened Stove Top, wrap their bodies in thick sliced bacon, then grill till browned. Brush on your favorite barbeque sauce and cook till it's thickened.

[Junior1942]

If it's an old, i.e., tough, squirrel simmer it in brown gravy until you can pull the meat from the bones. Sop the gravy with biscuits. Simmered squirrel gravy is the absolute best gravy. If it's a young squirrel, batter it and pan fry it like chicken. Pour off the frying grease--lard is best!--and make brown gravy with the leavings. Fried squirrel gravy is the absolute best gravy.....

[Dale in Louisiana]

grisly11-

Yeah, if I need 'gator, I walk into a store and buy it. But I won't. I can get rib-eye cheaper, and I like it a heck of a lot more...

dale in Louisiana

[starmac]

I hope you like frog legs Dale. Some of them cajuns could make chicken feathers taste good (I belive), but they would fix a few things I couldn't bring myself to try. Nutra rat, blood pudding and blood boudan to name a few.
Some of them used to get mad at me for not keeping the head on the squirrels. lol

[Dale in Louisiana]

I hope you like frog legs Dale. Some of them cajuns could make chicken feathers taste good (I belive), but they would fix a few things I couldn't bring myself to try. Nutra rat, blood pudding and blood boudan to name a few.
Some of them used to get mad at me for not keeping the head on the squirrels. lol

Oh, I eat frog legs from time to time. What do they say? "Tastes like chicken"? Then get me stupid chicken. They're runnin' around the yard. You don't have to out in the dark and get eaten by mosquitoes and the chicken tastes BETTER.

Same thing for the rest of that. When I was a kid, blood boudin was something made only in the fall when families gathered for a "Boucherie" teh slaughtering of hogs that was part of filling the pantries and freezers and smokehouses, and part social gathering. I didn't like blood boudin. Tasted too strong.

Nutria? Now we're talking a little better, but, meh!

But you're right! We do have some good cooks down here...

dale in Louisiana

[grisy11]

OH frog legs now them are real good i like them better then chicken.I will not go to a store and buy chicken thare is to much bone to pay for
grisy11

[ironhead7544]

Par boil until falling off bones. Then fry like chicken.

[blaster]

Simmer in chicken broth till tinder, bread and fry, toss in buffalo sauce.

[Wayne Dobbs]

Ex-wife #2 was a Louisiana gal and educated me on what the standards are for Cajun fare: its has to have two eyes, an a**hole and make the grease stink!

[Gunfixer]

Harvest with #4 buckshot, find head and confirm deceased, let hound dog check for flavor. DOne

[grisy11]

lol Gunfixer thats a good one

[EMC45]

I have quartered them and tossed them on the grill with sweet BBQ sauce and all was well. My MIL has a problem with them and I took about 20+ in about 2 days time from her yard. I ate a good bit of it then....

[bearcove]

Throw on the side of campfire. When fire dies down during night the dog gets to eat. Easier than carrying dog food.

Ate too many when younger.

[Changeling]

starmac--

Oh, I'll eat it, I just won't go out of my way to get it. Sort of like alligator. Everybody wants to try alligator. I've had it prepared by some fine cooks, and it's, well, if you're gonna waste a lot of time and effort, then waste it on something good...

And you're right about the fish. The "big enough to bite, big enough to keep" rule was in effect when I was a kid.

Dale in Louisiana
(Omnivorous, but picky)


Aligator, you eat that? If you dislike squirrel so much maybe we can get a delivery system going on squirrels!!
Give me a delivered price on 30 or so of what you consider tree rats to area code 21770 FRESH ?

I'm not joking at all!!

[randyrat]

I used to go out the first week of Oct and find a nice sunny south facing hillside with a 22 rifle and get nice and comfortable. The squirrels would come out of the wood work if you sat still. I would bring home a dozen skinned and my mother would cook them.
She would brown them first in a cast iron pan.
Then she would pressure cook them until they were tender morsels with meat falling off the bones. Eat them with mashed potatoes, gravy (from drippings off the cast iron pan - Junior 1942 knows how good this is), and squash or sweet potatoes.

[grisy11]

RANDYRAT
i have to say that is the best one Yet i think

[Changeling]

I used to go out the first week of Oct and find a nice sunny south facing hillside with a 22 rifle and get nice and comfortable. The squirrels would come out of the wood work if you sat still. I would bring home a dozen skinned and my mother would cook them.
She would brown them first in a cast iron pan.
Then she would pressure cook them until they were tender morsels with meat falling off the bones. Eat them with mashed potatoes, gravy (from drippings off the cast iron pan - Junior 1942 knows how good this is), and squash or sweet potatoes.

Hi Randy, I absolutely believe you BUT, I think your mom cooked them in the pressure cooker, then the frying pan and on with the rest of your story. They are absolutely awesome and my favorite meat,, exept for Maryland Crabs.

[BD]

I like squirrels, and shot a few of them while I was working in NY. When I was younger I spent many afternoons sitting in the oak grove doing my homework, or reading a book, with my model 67 next to me. I'd keep half an eye on the gray squirrels and when I had a shot against the trunk I'd take it. Five minutes and they'd be back out. I salt and pepper them and brown them real fast in an iron pan then line them up over sliced veggies in the electric skillet and roast them for an hour. Two will make a good lunch.

I was still fond of that past time when I started to work at the Appleton paper plant fresh out of college. I'd take a whole cooked squirrel for lunch and re-heat it in the microwave just to get the reaction out of the secretaries in the lunch room.

I still have that M 67, and I still like gray squirrels.

BD