Squirrel Soup

The other day, I was watching one of my favorite forest critters go about his daily business of gathering acorns from under one of my oak trees and burying them across the yard under my magnolia tree. You guessed it. It's a squirrel. A Sherman's fox squirrel to be exact. I particularly love these fairly large squirrels for their dark faces and plush light gray fur. Also, their enormously long and bushy tails eagerly flick around, seemingly giving the squirrel a playful personality.

So, there was "Sherm" bounding out of the forest and crossing the 35 MPH residential street in front of my house when all of a sudden -- WHAM! -- he's hit by an old man in a red convertible clipping along at about 50 MPH! I was devastated. My pet was dead, his neck broken instantly. I boohooed my eyes out and then got to thinking... if times became really tough, I might start looking at Sherm in a different light.

My grandparents told me how they ate squirrel during the Great Depression, my neighbor eats squirrel to this day (and would probably have been happy to have found the fresh road kill) so, why shouldn't I eat squirrel -- and you too, for that matter?

A quick flip through my new favorite recipe book, Trail Boss's Cowboy Cookbook, revealed a surprisingly yummy-sounding squirrel soup. Here it is:

Squirrel Soup - from the HK ranch in Hewins, Kansas

2 squirrels (duck or prairie chicken is also good)

6 cups water

3 tbsp. chicken bouillon

1 doz. peppercorns

1/4 tsp. thyme

1 tsp. salt

1-10 oz. can tomato soup

1-16 oz. can tomatoes, mashed

1/2 Bermuda onion, chopped

1/2 cup butter

1 cup barley

Cook first 6 ingredients together until meat is tender enough to pull off bone easily but not until it falls off. Remove meat and strain broth. Cut meat into small pieces or grind coarsely. Add to broth the tomato soup and mashed tomatoes with juice, the onion, parsley flakes and butter. Bring to a boil. Add barley and simmer over low heat until tender. Add meat to pot and simmer 10 minutes. Serves eight.

Squirrel in a Cup ® from DBA Oracle

Sherm's family doesn't have to worry a cute little hair on their heads about me hunting them down though. Turns out they're a "threatened species"... especially with all of these speeders around!