Sunday, August 30, 2009

squirrel stew











Are you having trouble with squirrels raiding your birdfeeders? Frustratingly clever aren't they?

Here’s something to try. It's an old remedy, a 1940 recipe collected by the New Deal’s Federal Writer’s Program from Pulaski County, Arkansas for “Squirrel Mulligan Stew.” Admittedly, it’s a bit extreme but we are in hard economic times.

In a large pot of boiling water add:

4 squirrels
3 large Irish potatoes
1 medium-sized sweet potato
1 large onion
3 or 4 pods of okra
½ cup drippings (bacon grease) or butter
1 pod of red pepper
1 teaspoon of celery salt or 3 tablespoons of chopped celery
3 cups diced vegetables—cabbage, turnips, carrots, corn, field peas, bell peppers, or whatever other vegetables that are available

Bon appétit!

(I suppose that chicken could be substituted for the squirrel, but chickens really aren't raiding your birdfeeders are they?)

- Other vintage recipes gathered by this program have been collected in the book “The Food of a Younger Land” by Mark Kurlansky


2 comments:

ADRIAN said...

I have actually seen a squirrel dressed and frozen. Supposed to be very good. Unfortunately for someone of my limited skill when it comes to identifying fauna,it could have equally been a cat or small rabbit.

Stephen Lyn Bales said...

Stew is stew. I hear rabbit stew is most enjoyable.