Since I’ve started cooking with wild game meats, I have often found myself thinking “what wouldn’t I eat”.
I’ve tried deer hearts (which are delicious), rabbit liver (which is pretty tasty) but I wondered if there was an animal out there that might be pushing the boundaries.
Squirrel…..the answer is squirrel. To many, the cute little squirrel has a bushy tail and eats nuts all day long and it’s true, they are rather cute to look at but could you eat one? The answer is yes and I am glad to say that squirrel tastes really nice.
I’ll be the first to admit, I had made enquiries into getting squirrel meat online but I was put off because I didn’t know where the meat had come from. Part of the appeal of field to fork cooking is that I like to know where my food has come from. It just so happens that my local gamedealer is also a game keeper and had a few squirrels that he had caught in his traps on the estate where he works and I was delighted when he mentioned he had a few fresh squirrel in their freezer.
Before I could exchange money, I had a bag of 5 frozen squirrel in my hands and a grin on my face from ear to ear, I was like a child on Christmas Day. Sounds like a weird analogy to use but what I love about getting my produce from Castle Game – Scotland Ltd, is that they will do their best to source the best produce for their customers.
Long story short, I searched online and found an abundance of recipes for Roast Squirrel and this one appealed to me the most:
Roast Squirrel
Ingredients
Two Squirrel
3 garlic cloves, minced
Few sprigs of Rosemary, finely chopped
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt/pepper for seasoning
Method
Preheat oven at 200 degrees Celsius
Cover the squirrels in olive oil, three minced garlic cloves and some freshly chopped rosemary.
Squeeze the juice of one lemon over the squirrels and pop the lemon halves in the roasting tin.
Roast at 200 degrees for 10 mins, turn them and roast for 5 more minutes.
You can serve these with a nice salad but I ate these on their own and was pleasantly surprised how nice they tasted, almost like a fatty rabbit.
Field To Fork Food 