Saturday, April 3, 2010

Easter Dinner

Ever since the kids were really small, in an effort to NOT raise serial killers, we have always told them that they need to be nice to animals, and only kill them in self-defense or for food.  For example, if you kill a frog for the fun of it, be prepared to clean it and eat it.  If you kill a sparrow, be prepared to pluck and you better hope they have good breast meat.

We have a bit of a squirrel problem.  As in there are hundreds living around our house.  They get into the garage, the shed, the lawn mower, the boat.  They drive my dog insane by teasing her.  They devour every bit of bird seed I put out for the birds.  So Sam asked if he could shoot one with his bb gun.  Mitch said, "Sure, if you want to clean it and eat it."  Sam said, "Okay!  If I get it will you show me how to clean it?"  Mitch said, "......um....... (sigh)..... I guess."  Then Sam ran off to ready his weapon and hunt.  When he was gone Mitch said, "Well, that backfired."

Sam has been hunting the squirrels for days and I have been rooting for the squirrels because I'm a softy and I didn't really think Sam had a chance to get them with the spring-action bb gun he's got.  I thought even if he did manage to hit one he might bruise it, piss it off maybe, but not kill it.  I was wrong.  He got one this morning so he's proudly waiting for his dad to come home from work so they can skin it and cook it together.  GROSS.  Mitch will be SO HAPPY.  Anybody have any good squirrel recipes?

Yum!

11 comments:

  1. Dana McKibbage WaldbilligApril 3, 2010 at 1:05 PM

    I know you're going to think I'm lying, but allrecipes.com has SEVEN squirrel recipes! We have everything from braised squirrel legs to Belgian squirrel. Check it out, and be ready for Mitch when he gets home! OMG.

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  2. Time to suddenly develop an alergy to squirrel stew. I hear they are really bad for gout. Can you fake a limp?

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  3. Oh Kady, I didn't want to admit this, but the Lindahl family has eaten squirrel too. In fact a few years ago, my dad came home from work and was sitting talking to us, saw a squirrel out the window and RAN in his work clothes to get his gun and shoot it. He was back in about five minutes and said, "From tree to freezer in under ten minutes." YUCK.

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  4. OMG!!!! That is way too funny! Be sure to let us know how it tastes!

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  5. He could always pack it up and send it to Gramma Zetta. She always tells us about this guy from Cannon Falls that hunts squirrels and promised to bring her some. Have Sam keep hunting and you will have a nice xmas present next year for her. Actually squirrel isn't THAT bad. Just roll it in seasonsed flower and brown it (not whole but in pieces)and then put it in a crock pot and cook the hell out of it. Takes the stringiness (sp) out of it.

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  6. I've had squirrel at Gram Zetta's...not bad.

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  7. Since Kira is such an animal lover what does she think of this squirrel eating business?

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  8. Tell her that a squirrel is about the size of Pocket...could you imagine how much (little) meat is on Pocket....I want the leg!

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  9. I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.

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  10. You may have a legitimate dodge here. If the squirrel has not been cleaned (at least field dressed) within a reasonably short time (say, an hour or so) after being killed, and depending upon the temperature, it's possible the meat could be affected. If you really don't want to deal with it, you can throw that out there as an excuse. In reality, there's little likelihood of there being a problem.
    The rule of thumb is that they should be cleaned while they are still warm although that's more for ease of skinning than anything. Once they've cooled, they're much harder to skin.

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  11. Jared, thankfully Mitch didn't get home until about 4 hours after the squirrel was killed so eating it was not an option. YAY! We had ham for Easter instead. Mmmmmmmmmm, pig.

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