Syracuse.com - Retired ESF prof shares his favorite squirrel recipe

[HuntingNY-News]

"The unique benefit of any hunting is to eat the tasty, healthy meat of the quarry. Squirrels are no exception. Here is a wonderful recipe that, once tried, you'll never forget," he said.

Nick Lisi/The Post-Standard

Rainer Brocke, professor emeritus at SUNY ESF, wrote me this week to share his favorite squirrel recipe.

Brocke, who lives in Lafayette, wrote: "Your fine article on squirrel hunting brought back memories of squirrels stalked years ago -- unparalleled practice for the pursuit of big game.

"The unique benefit of any hunting is to eat the tasty, healthy meat of the quarry. Squirrels are no exception. Here is a wonderful recipe that, once tried, you'll never forget.

"To prepare the meat, make a cut through the skin across the back and around the middle of the animal's body. With two pliers, grab each skin half at the back and pull the two skin halves apart, exposing all the meat up to the head, feet and tail which you cut off.

"Now gut the skinned animal with a longitudinal cut along the abdomen, and then cut the empty body across the middle, washing each half.

"Next, wrap each squirrel half in a strip of bacon, and wrap each in tin foil, crimping the foil "tent" closed.

"Bake the wrapped squirrel halves in an oven at 350 degrees for about one hour or until the meat falls off the bones. Note, this recipe requires no butter, salt or other seasonings. The exquisite taste comes from nut-fed squirrel meat, basted with bacon fat and accented with smoke flavor. The beauty of this recipe is it's simplicity. You can achieve the same tasty result by baking the foil wrapped pieces in the ashes of a waning campfire. Delicious.

"I hesitate to surrender this gourment's delight for free. On second thought, here it is, towards the greater joy of squirrel hunting and healthy eating. By the way, the kids love it. One squirrel per person will be quickly consumed."

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog