Popcorn ... squirrel ??

[mazzgolf]

It's Christmas Eve, off from work, and wanted to get out in the woods and just do something, but all I could figure out to do was go hunt squirrel this morning. Had a disappointing swing-and-a-miss on the first one, but managed to score a hit on a second one. The question then became - put it in the crab bait pile or have it for lunch?  After the recent talk about parboiling, I decided to go in the kitchen and experiment with a new recipe.

Popcorn Squirrel !

I didn't get this recipe from anywhere - just something I whipped up, but it came out pretty good!! I have to say this is actually one of the best squirrel meals I've had. Dip the nuggets in a little BBQ sauce, and it's a nice little snack.

Popcorn Squirrel

INGREDIENTS:

• Squirrel, cleaned and quartered
• Onion, quartered (optional)
• Flour
• Egg (stirred well, or use egg whites)
• Breadcrumbs (season the breadcrumbs with spices to taste, e.g. cajun spices, garlic powder, salt, pepper, etc.)
• Salt and water
• Vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS:

PREP:

1. Make sure you clean all the hair off the squirrel meat
2. Debone: Cut the legs from the thighs, debone the thighs. Cut the two “backstraps” off of the back. After parboiling, you can remove the meat from the legs - it is easier doing the legs after parboiling. Cut the thighs and backstraps into bite-size pieces. Another option is just parboil everything and debone after, not sure how that would work but could be something to try.

BRINE:

3. Brine the meat by filling a pot with enough cold water to cover the meat; stir in salt. Soak the meat for at least 1 hour in the refrigerator.
4. Remove the meat from the brine and rinse with cold water

PARBOIL:

5. Rinse out the pot and again fill with just enough water that will cover the squirrel pieces. Add the quartered onion to the water (this is optional).
6. To the pot, stir in a few pinches of salt
7. Bring the water to a boil; as soon as the water boils, reduce the heat slightly
8. Add the meat to the pot and simmer uncovered until just tender. This takes about an hour, but could be longer for older, tougher squirrels. Some pieces may get tender before others, so check periodically with a fork, removing those that are just tender to prevent overcooking
9. Remove the meat and place on a paper towel-lined plate and pat dry the meat
10. Now is the time to remove the meat from the leg bones

FRY:

11. Dredge the pieces of meat first in flour, then in the egg, then in the breadcrumbs
12. Heat oil in a skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Working in batches if need be, fry the pieces of meat until crispy and golden brown.
13. Serve as-is or with a dipping sauce of your choice (such as BBQ sauce)
 

[Recurve hntr]

That looks good. I love squirrel. I grew up on squirrel stew.

[Silver Belly62]

Squirrel is also good when done as pot pie (dumpling style).  Do that a lot with rabbits