I don't like wild game. You can put all kind of seasonings on it and it may taste good, but I find most of it tough. Besides I can't kill animals unless something was attacking me. I have a goose I would like to cook, then feed it to the foxes. He attacks everyone who comes near the nest.

IMO folks don't call them tree rats for nothing. Take one and shave it's tail fur off then take a second look.

When I saw the title of the post I first thought you were referring to an extermination problem that needed to be solved in your kitchen.... :-)

My last thread about the squirrels was called "Squirrels in the crockpot" and a few thought somehow live squirrels got in. I thought I would continue the story with "Squirrels in the oven".

Wild game is tough because people overcook it. My MIL used to do this. They think it somehow has cooties that only high heat will kill. We usually have a freezer of venison. Not this year and when hunting deer, DH saw an over abundance of squirrels in the woods. Now there are 2 less.

You can call them squirrels, or you can call them tree rats.

I call them delicious free protein.

I trap about 20 of them each year. If I don't, I will not have my nice tomatoes.

Too bad I can't eat them. In my suburban town, most people spray all kinds of chemicals. I have no idea what the squirrels have been eating.

dcarch

Sorry you can't eat them dcarch. In our case DH shot them on his Dads property and he know no pesticides are used in the area. I found them to taste like a cross between chicken and beef.

Thanks for the report!

To each his own. Yuk.

Debra, I like squirrel and have eaten a lot of it in my lifetime, mostly in the form of stew so that Grandma could stretch one or two squirrels into supper for 6.

I do agree that game is often overcooked, which toughens it. We had venison with caramelized onions for supper, and I could cut it with a fork. Mashed potatoes, green beans and baked beans, it all came from the farm.

As I've often said, taste is not objective, it's subjective, or as a previous poster put it "don't yuck my yum". Others can have ALL of the pizza and olives, cake mix cakes and jello, I'll take the squirrel and venison, all free range too!

Annie

A chef puts it this way:

"---------- Some consider squirrel to be the best meat in the woods. On my journey as a chef, I have come to think that it may be the best meat period. The phrase, âÂÂYou are what you eat,â befits a squirrel as it does a Spanish acorn-fed pig that are prized so highly by those with means.

But when you think about it, squirrels are hoarders, and after having feasted on a grove of pecans or acorns, their meat is nutty and sweet, buttery and tender. And so a fat, nut-fed squirrel is not only better tasting than any meat in the woods, it can be even better tasting, and much more economical than that Spanish pig that sells for one hundred seventy dollars per pound.----"

dcarch