Three squirrels feeds only 2 people? They must have skinny squirrels in Ohio. Sounds good, though. I’ll get my three retrievers on it. Back east, they would have had no problem bringing home the main course, but now that we live in California I might have to substitute gophers.
Wash and quarter three or four good-sized squirrels; put them on with a small tablespoonful of salt, directly after breakfast, in a gallon of cold water. Cover the pot close, and set it on the back part of the stove to simmer gently, not boil. Add vegetables just the same as you do in case of other meat soups in the summer season, but especially good will you find corn, Irish potatoes, tomatoes and Lima beans. Strain the soup through a coarse colander when the meat has boiled to shreds, so as to get rid of the squirrels’ troublesome little bones. Then return to the pot, and after boiling a while longer, thicken with a piece of butter rubbed in flour. Celery and parsley leaves chopped up are also considered an improvement by many. Toast two slices of bread, cut them into dice one-half inch square, fry them in butter, put them into the bottom of your tureen, and then pour the soup boiling hot upon them. Very good.
@Colleen: squirrel meat was so popular around DC in the late 1800’s that they became extinct in the city. Some were captured and brought in to repopulate it, and there are now an estimated four times the population in Lafayette Park that nature itself could support; they subsist off what the tourists drop. There was a guy who did his PhD on squirrels around there; he reported seeing one that had even learned to cross the street in the crosswalk at the light by following just out of reach behind the humans. Source: John Kelly’s book. (Check his posts at the Washington Post, too.)
Our dog did mostly ignore squirrels. If it whas a cat, a hare, a deer or a boar though. The funny part is, we had a dachshund. He just had no fear, regardless how big the foe was. He once chased a grown boar to my father. My father however was to surprised to shoot. The dog was moping for about 3 weeks.^^
tedsini almost 11 years ago
Three squirrels feeds only 2 people? They must have skinny squirrels in Ohio. Sounds good, though. I’ll get my three retrievers on it. Back east, they would have had no problem bringing home the main course, but now that we live in California I might have to substitute gophers.
nofhell almost 11 years ago
SQUIRREL SOUP from the White House Cookbook, 1894
Wash and quarter three or four good-sized squirrels; put them on with a small tablespoonful of salt, directly after breakfast, in a gallon of cold water. Cover the pot close, and set it on the back part of the stove to simmer gently, not boil. Add vegetables just the same as you do in case of other meat soups in the summer season, but especially good will you find corn, Irish potatoes, tomatoes and Lima beans. Strain the soup through a coarse colander when the meat has boiled to shreds, so as to get rid of the squirrels’ troublesome little bones. Then return to the pot, and after boiling a while longer, thicken with a piece of butter rubbed in flour. Celery and parsley leaves chopped up are also considered an improvement by many. Toast two slices of bread, cut them into dice one-half inch square, fry them in butter, put them into the bottom of your tureen, and then pour the soup boiling hot upon them. Very good.
amaryllis2 Premium Member almost 11 years ago
@Colleen: squirrel meat was so popular around DC in the late 1800’s that they became extinct in the city. Some were captured and brought in to repopulate it, and there are now an estimated four times the population in Lafayette Park that nature itself could support; they subsist off what the tourists drop. There was a guy who did his PhD on squirrels around there; he reported seeing one that had even learned to cross the street in the crosswalk at the light by following just out of reach behind the humans. Source: John Kelly’s book. (Check his posts at the Washington Post, too.)
nofhell almost 11 years ago
@amaryllis2 … interesting. Thanks. I aways got a chuckle out of the way the recipe was written.
Theseus2 about 3 years ago
Our dog did mostly ignore squirrels. If it whas a cat, a hare, a deer or a boar though. The funny part is, we had a dachshund. He just had no fear, regardless how big the foe was. He once chased a grown boar to my father. My father however was to surprised to shoot. The dog was moping for about 3 weeks.^^