Squirrel Soup??
Had you walked up to me 15 years ago and asked me if I wanted a bowl of squirrel soup, not only would I have turned you down but, I’m sure, would have turned up my nose. SQUIRREL SOUP?! Tree rats?!
Darn right, squirrel soup. Those furry little rodents that bounce amongst the tree tops and scurry along the forest floor can be pretty dang tasty.
From adventure to crockpot
One of my first hunts with Wes was a squirrel hunt. I had full intentions of only looking for chicken of the woods (We will dive more into mushrooms at another time. If I get started now, I won’t stop) but was convinced that I can just carry the gun along and see how it goes.
Many of you don’t know me personally. My body type is one that could be compared to a baby giraffe. Gangly, long legged and clumsy. Because of these features, I am an excellent mushroom hunter and a very poor squirrel hunter because my eyes are always pointed at the ground to find the next stick I might trip over before my feet do.
Needless to say, my squirrel hunting skills did not pay off. I set my sights on one that was much faster than I, and he was out of sight before I even took off the safety.
Thankfully, the main hunter of the home could hear the pangs of hunger coming from my stomach ringing through the forest and knew what needed to be done. He quickly bagged his limit and we started on our trek out of the woods.
Clean and cook
Once home, Wes skinned and cleaned his kill. He uses a method which always results in quickly and cleanly prepared squirrels. Some day we will highlight this method on the blog! We tossed 6 in the crockpot and turned it on low to let the meat get “fall apart tender” before adding to the soup. It will fall right off the bone, which takes a lot of the work out of dinner! Pull your bones and the meat is ready.
As any good soup starts, you begin with a mirepoix. Celery, onions and carrots get tossed in a heavy bottomed pot (we love our Cuisinart cast iron enameled dutch oven) with your seasonings and will start to fill the house with that familiar pleasant smell we all wish was turned into a candle. Toss in your meat and scrape the browned bits off the bottom when you add in your stock. From there your going to add in your precooked noodles of choice, throw some bread in the oven to warm and wait until it all heats up and it’s time to dig in. This is perfect with a crusty baguette, crackers or some Marble Rye Bread.
This is a super simple recipe, and freezes well! It could easily be done with a variety of meats. Chicken, pheasant, turkey… any of the above would do just fine! We hope you love it. Let us know how yours turned out in the comments below!
Squirrel Noodle Soup
The Brokenstraw's version of chicken noodle soup, squirrel noodle soup! With a crusty baguette this is the perfect soup for a chilly day!
Ingredients
- Squirrels, cleaned-6
- Butter- 2tbs
- Medium Yellow onion, diced- 1
- Celery stalks, diced- 2
- Carrots, diced- 2
- Garlic Cloves, minced- 6
- Thyme Springs- 2
- Bay Leaves- 2
- Salt & pepper- to taste
- Stock or broth (we prefer homemade stock, but store bought chicken broth will do just fine!)- 8-10 cups
- Water- 1-2 cups
- Egg noodles or pasta of choice- 8 ounces
Directions
- Step 1 Start by adding your squirrels, salt pepper and water to the crockpot. Cook on low for 8 hours until fall apart tender.
- Step 2 Pull the bones from the meat and chop or pull apart into bite sized pieces.
- Step 3 Add the butter, garlic, celery, onion and carrot to a heavy bottomed pot (we use an enameled cast iron pot) and cook on low/med until softened and onions are translucent.
- Step 4 Add stock to the pot along with bay leaf, thyme, salt and pepper. Stir in squirrel meat and cook until heated through.
- Step 5 While soup warms, cook your noodles separately, 6-7 minutes until al dente. I like to do this to avoid having the noodles soak up all of your broth.
- Step 6 Add cooked noodles to the soup pot and stir until all ingredients are evenly mixed. Allow soup to simmer for 2 minutes and then remove the heat.
- Step 7 Discard the thyme and bay leaves. Serve warm with bread or crackers. Enjoy!
