eat mor chikaree

Although Laura Ingalls Wilder never comes right out and says her family ate squirrel, she implies that they did in both Little House in the Big Woods and Little House on the Prairie: "In the bitter cold weather Pa could not be sure of finding any wild game to shoot for meat" (BW 1), and squirrel is listed second only to bear, followed by deer and rabbit... "'This country's cram-jammed with game,' [Pa] told [Ma]. 'I saw fifty deer if I saw one, and antelope, squirrels, rabbits...'" (LHP 4).

The red squirrel of the Big Woods of Wisconsin - Sciurus Hudsonius, now known as Tamiasciurus hudsonicus - is 11 to 14 inches in length, including their 4- to 6-inch tail, and they weigh 7 to 10 ounces. They are easily identified by their small size, prominent ears, white eyes and reddish coat (early drawing of a red squirrel shown above). It has been said that the farther south a red squirrel lives, the redder its coat. The tail is cinnamon in color and often has black-tipped hairs. During the summer, the red squirrel sports a black line along each flank, separating the upper reddish coat from their white underparts. In the winter, the coat becomes much brighter and this lateral line disappears.

The red squirrel has many nicknames, including boomer, chatterbox, pine squirrel, and chickaree (apologies to Chick-fil-A for adapting a line from their television commercials for this blog title). The red squirrel feeds primarily on pine seeds, but will eat fruit, nuts, and berries as well as mushrooms and fungi. They are highly territorial; there is no mistaking their scolding chatter if you enter its territory. In one of his stories told to Laura and Mary, Charles Ingalls recalls the red squirrels of his youth, perhaps those of Jefferson County, Wisconsin.

Gray squirrels and fox squirrels were also found in Pepin, Wisconsin. The gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) is 18 to 21 inches long, including its tail, and weighs 16 to 28 ounces. Gray squirrels can vary in color from black to white, with tails usually banded with brown and black hairs featuring white tips. They frequently have a tuft of white hair behind their ears and the chin, throat, and belly are also white. Gray squirrels prefer mature hardwood forests where they feed on acorns, hickory nuts, and walnuts.

The fox squirrel (Sciurus niger) is the largest tree squirrel in Wisconsin at 20 to 22 inches long and weighing 24 to 32 ounces. It gets its name from its rusty brown coat, similar to the hair color of foxes. Fox squirrels prefer oak and hickory, but can be found in swamp hardwoods and mixed hardwoods.

Gray squirrel appears on adventurous restaurant menus, and there certainly are enough of the little buggers in my area to supply many a table. (I've eaten squirrel in Brunswick stew, and I really can't say that I could identify the taste, since there the stew also contained chicken and pork.) Check your local hunting regulations to see if squirrel hunting is allowed in your area. You might also want to read up on squirrel diseases, since there seems to be a nasty one linked to the consumption of squirrel brains, considered by some to be a delicacy. If you've never seen a squirrel prepared for cooking and you aren't particularly squeemish, take a look at this.

Ma might have cooked the following stewed squirrel recipe: Skin two pairs of fat squirrels, wash them quickly in cold water, or carefully wipe them with a wet cloth to remove the hairs, and cut them in quarters, rejecting the intestines. Put a layer of slices of fat salt pork in a saucepan, then place the squirrels in the saucepan, with a palatable seasoning of salt and pepper, and either a little more salt pork or lard or drippings. Add enough water to prevent burning, cover the saucepan, and cook the squirrels gently until nearly done, uncover the saucepan so that the water in which they were cooked can stew away. Then put in enough cream or good milk to moisten them, let them heat again, see that they are palatably seasoned, and then serve them hot. - Juliet Corson, Practical American Cookery and Household Management, 1886
- posted by pioneergirl at 6:30 PM