The ultimate ethical meal: a grey squirrel

The Observer ^ | Sunday May 11, 2008 | Caroline Davies

[Daffynition]

t's low in fat, low in food miles and completely free range. In fact, some claim that Sciurus carolinensis - the grey squirrel - is about as ethical a dish as it is possible to serve on a dinner plate.

The grey squirrel, the American cousin of Britain's endangered red variety, is flying off the shelves faster than hunters can shoot them, with game butchers struggling to keep up with demand. 'We put it on the shelf and it sells. It can be a dozen squirrels a day - and they all go,' said David Simpson, the director of Kingsley Village shopping centre in Fraddon, Cornwall, whose game counter began selling grey squirrel meat two months ago.

At Ridley's Fish and Game shop in Corbridge, Northumberland, the owner David Ridley says he has sold 1,000 - at £3.50 a squirrel - since he tested the market at the beginning of the year. 'I wasn't sure at first, and wondered would people really eat it. Now I take every squirrel I can get my hands on. I've had days when I have managed to get 60 and they've all sold straight away.'

Simpson likens the taste to wild boar. Ridley thinks it is more a cross between duck and lamb. 'It's moist and sweet because, basically, its diet has been berries and nuts,' he said.

[Daffynition]

The Fountain of Youth Yute...

[Daffynition]

Your version is more romantic than the one cited...I like it.;)

[hiredhand]

I hear ya buddy... and I really do NOT like possum! Deer and goat is our favorite! We've got almost the same saying around the farm... "If it stands still long enough, we'll eat it!" :-) We never buy meat at the store unless we simply get a very, VERY good deal on it! We kill hogs in the early winter, and deer at various times, and goats on and off throughout the year...as well as my wife buying 50 to 75 meat birds (chickens) a year as chicks. We brood em and they're eating weight in just a couple of months.

...strange thing though...I've gone to the woods several times in the past couple of years and although I've killed a LOT of deer in the past, I've had people give me so much in the past five years that I just haven't had to shoot any myself...which is fine with me! Also, strangely enough it seems that fewer and fewer people skin, cut, and pack their own meat. They're often surprised (even shocked) that we slaughter, and butcher our own. I sort of get the impression that it's a dying art of sorts.

[o_zarkman44]

right between the eyes ;)

[metmom]

So far I’ve got them pretty skittish. If I open the window they just take right off. I guess they didn’t like their ammonia baths. :))

[metmom]

That’s good to know. Thanks.

[metmom]

Geez, I wish people would give me venison like that.

My family isn’t into hunting so we depend on what we’re given.

Here you are, able and willing to do it on your own and you’re showered with it. NO FAIR. >:(

[hiredhand]

Where are you at? We SHARE! :-)

[metmom]

NY STATE. Not the city.

I see you’re in NC. :(

Thanks anyway.

[hiredhand]

Rats! If you move down this way, let me know! We not only “share”, but have been known to skin, cut, and pack for people too. :-)

[metmom]

I have a sister who lives in SC. I can keep that in mind next time I visit her, whenever that may be.

[Bigg Red]

Your version is more romantic....

&&&
Hmmm...I went to your link and got some schooling. My mistake. Maybe my story is related to starlings. I’ll have to research it when I have time. I’ll send you a link if I am successful.

[Bigg Red]

Aha! Found it! My recollection was a little faulty; it was the starling, and it was a group and not one guy that introduced it.

from http://www.klarahobza.com/work/2003/

In 1890, Eugene Schieffelin and the Acclimation Society of North America decided to bring all the birds mentioned in Shakespeare’s plays to the USA from Britain. Among them were 60 European Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), because Shakespeare had mentioned them in Henry IV: “Nay, I’ll have a starling shall be taught to speak nothing but Mortimer’…” (Part I, Act 1, Scene 3).

[Gilbo_3]

strangely enough it seems that fewer and fewer people skin, cut, and pack their own meat.

probably the same winn-dixie mentality...has to be done in a butchershop to be 'safe' to eat...

My uncle was a butcher, his store was very clean, if bloody counters and knives saws grinders etc can be considered 'clean' ...lolololol

Anyhow thats one minor resentment that I still have, NOT being raised dressing meat, at this point Im willin to learn, but its a cumbersome process for those not used to it...[my first deer, 2 yrs ago took hoooouuuuurrrrs to bone out]

mom, do you have the 'cleaning' skills to offer local hunters? you could prolly trade bulk cleanin for most of the meat less tenderloins...[Quite a few around here that leave whole deer in the field for the buzzards, less the best, easy to grab meat...sickening waste]...or do as my bud and contact game warden and collect car/poacher stock...

it all eats just the same...

[metmom]

No, no animal cleaning skills in our family.

I was raised pretty much a city girl. I’ve been transplanted to a SMALL town in Upstate NY where there are more cows and guns than people and I love it.

My kids are very interested in learning to hunt and I have talked to several people I know about hunting and guns but am not getting much help or information. I guess having been raised with it, they don’t get that some people don’t automatically have these skills and need to learn.

[Gilbo_3]

I understand the difficulty of 'breaking into' the country life...doing the same as a transplant to cow/tobaccoo country...

Learning the language of country folks and patience has been the biggest help for me...that and they see the monumental effort in rennovation on our old farmhouse, so they probably figure that Im not out to make a buck or 'use' em like most carpetbaggers...

usually for me, the old timers have more in time/wisdom that theyre willing to give away...any local rod/reel clubs or gunstores???

I honestly found more willingness to let me into the culture from 'AA' friends and church fellowship than most of the younger farmers, gotta be a trust thing...

find something youre good at that is interesting to others, then trade info...???