squirrel stew

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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

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