Notes from Windward: #67

Roasted Squirrel

Becca checks out another resource


Becca writes:

     Yesterday Kai presented me with a squirrel much the way my cat presents me with one, dropping it at my feet as an offering. He looked very pleased with himself. I, the girl who practices a vegetarian diet when I don’t have access to non-factory farmed meat, was determined to get over a prejudice of mine.

  

     Since humans have to eat to survive, the age old question, the omnivore’s dilemma, is what to eat? As someone who’s interested in learning how to live more sustainably, based on how much energy is exerted to get the food to the table, it seems like the best thing to eat would be local vegetables and starches that are produced in biodynamic and organic ways. However, for times of the year when food like this isn’t in vast supply, it seems like the next best option would be locally produced wild game or farmed meat. Particularly at Windward, squirrels seem appropriate, since they’re in abundant supply, and they’re a nuisance since they get into peoples living spaces and bury under the crops. Even though we don’t normally consider them as food in this part of the world, I see no reason why we shouldn’t.

     Even though I believed this in theory, actually putting this mindset into practice was a scary step for me. I’d never killed or skinned an animal before. I grew up in the suburbs of DC, knowing meat only as what comes in plastic packages in the supermarket. The squirrel was still warm as I apprehensively held the knife and eyed the squirrel. I took a deep breath. I definitely knew that I didn’t want to cut through the gall bladder or entrails to spoil the meat, but how would I avoid doing that? Would there be lots of blood? Where was the meat on the squirrel? I looked to Kai for help, but he just shook his head with a smile on his face. I was on my own. I carefully took the knife and slit it through the skin to open up the cavity of the squirrel, being reminded of the time my classmates and I dissected a frog in the fifth grade squealing. After I’d removed each organ being especially careful around the areas that I guessed were the gull bladder and lower intestines, I realized that I could have avoided the whole dissection process. Since the only sizable amount of meat was around the legs, if I was to do it again, I would have just cut off and skinned each of the legs, without even opening the cavity of the squirrel.

     The next step was of course to eat it, which was the easy part. A quick internet search yielded a myriad of results of recipes, so in no time the kitchen was smelling mighty fine.

     Tasted like chicken.

Easy Delicious Squirrel Recipe for one Squirrel’s meat
  • Roll washed squirrel meat in flour
  • Chop 1/8 onion into tiny even pieces,
  • Heat oil with salt and pepper mixed in to taste
  • Fry onions and squirrel meat over medium high heat until they’re both brown
  • Eat over rice


Notes From Windward - Index - Vol. 67