Anyone for grey squirrel pie? Victorian delicacy enjoys revival
- Thousands of grey squirrel have been sold to restaurants and butchers
It was a popular delicacy served up until the last century when it dropped off Britain’s menu.
But grey squirrel pie is currently enjoying a revival due to attempts to save its less aggressive red cousins from extinction.
Thousands of grey squirrels have been sold to restaurants, butchers and are on sale at farmer’s markets after being legally trapped and shot in woodland and rural areas.
Earning a crust: James Hughes Davies, who runs Little Jack Horner’s pie company, sells 60 squirrel pies a week at farmer’s markets
Squirrel stew: Mr Davies makes batches of his pie filling to sell at farmers markets around London
Conservationists have attempted to increase numbers of red squirrels through campaigns to cull thousands of the grey variety.
Not only are greys larger, tougher and more aggressive they carry squirrel pox disease – a virus deadly to reds.
The meat, which chefs say tastes like wild rabbit or game, is dark and usually slow-cooked before being made in casseroles, hot-pots or pies. As there is not much flesh on the squirrel, a whole one provides enough meat for a single pie.
James Hughes Davies, 31, who runs Little Jack Horner’s pie company, sells 60 squirrel pies a week at farmer’s markets and says he could sell dozens more if he could get hold of the animals.
‘The main problem is that I can’t get enough of the squirrels as the demand is so high’, he said.
‘I get them at the moment from a man who traps them in Suffolk before killing them humanely. As they’re classified as vermin they are there to be caught.
Days are numbered: Some argue that trapping and shooting grey squirrels (pictured) is the only way to save the native red squirrel from extinction
Battle for survival: Not only are greys larger, tougher and more aggressive they carry squirrel pox disease – a virus deadly to reds (pictured)
‘They have been selling really well. People from all walks of life are trying them, not solely people who are quite wealthy and into their food.
‘Squirrel tastes a little bit like wild rabbit, but has darker meat. As a country, we’ve been eating squirrel for centuries along with pigeon and many other wild animals that we now classify as game.
‘It’s only been in the last 50 years when we’ve had an emotional attachment to them that it’s gone off the menu.
‘There’s not a lot of meat on a squirrel so I find it best to slow-cook it so the meat falls off the bone. The real problem you have is skinning them in the first place as it’s a lot of hard work for little return.
‘We do squirrel pie and it’s selling very well at the moment and I can see it being on people’s menu much more in the coming years.’
‘They’re sold as soon as they hit the counter’
Pest controller Paul Parker moved from Newcastle to the south of England to trap grey squirrels to provide restaurants.
The father-of-three is a founder of the Red Squirrel Protection Partnership, which argues that trapping and shooting grey squirrels, which came from America, is the only way to save the native red from extinction.
His method of trapping them in spring-loaded boxes has been so successful that they have been eradicated in many parts of Northumberland and the reds have returned.
The high-tech boxes, that are baited with nuts, sends him a text message when the squirrel is trapped. In 1999, the group caught 22,622 using a network of traps during 18 months.
Mr Parker, 47, said: ‘I cannot personally get enough of these squirrels, people are eating them. If I was getting 100, they would take 100 each and every day, the demand is so high. They are sold as soon as they hit the counter.
‘They are going to top restaurants, butchers, the working man. They are a delicacy.’
James Hughes Davies cooking tips:
1. They’re small and lean, so be
careful if you are considering browning the meat before cooking. Be
delicate with your methods, as it will toughen the meat. Personally, I
don’t think it necessary.
2.
The lack of fat on a squirrel means they need to be lubricated heavily
whilst cooking. You can roast them, but I personally think it more
satisfying (and much easier) pot-roasting or stewing them at a low
temperature. Slow-cooking is the key.
Slow cooking is the key: A whole squirrel should take about an hour and a half
Whatever poaching liquid you use,
bring it up to the boil, and as soon as it starts bubbling, reduce the
heat down so that it is merely steaming and blipping with the odd
bubble. If you do this, then the meat will fall off the bone. In
slow-cooking terms, a whole squirrel won’t take that long. I’d give it
an hour and a half, then check.
3.
As they are so boney, I’d suggest that you poach them separately from
the other ingredients first. By doing this you can separate the meat
from the bones without leaving one or two bones in the pot. Then add the
meat and the cooking liquor to the other ingredients.
Here’s what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.
“Squirrel is also tastes great if southern fried like a chicken. Prepared in this manner they even taste like chicken. – Mayfield, SC-USA,”……………Haven”t tried them this way, but roasted conventionally, they taste (to me anyway) like rabbit with a slightly nutty flavour.
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I learned to clean a squirrel before I learned to tie my shoes. Hind quarters are great. Pressure cooker speeds cooking. Use lots of pepper and salt. I add a little Tabasco. End of spoon handle best for digging out brains. It’s hardly worth cooking just one. Best to have 3 or 4. Add carrots, onions, potatoes near end. In military survival I traded a small rabbit for 3 large rats. I got more meat. I now have 8 squirrels living in my oak trees but I leave them alone. Don’t know why. Just do.
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I would point out that grey squirrels are much better to eat if they are trapped rather than shot. Good to see so many red squirrels up here now that the greys have been decimated.
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Disgusting ! Britain a nation of animal lovers ? what a joke !
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absolutely sick……
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You’ll be surprised how much road kill ends up in your local butchers. I know a man who travels 18 miles to work along country lanes. Any dead rabbits pheasents squirrels he collects. Keeps them in his shed then at the end of the week cashes them in at his local butchers.
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The American gray squirrels have stolen the bird suet, chewed the fuel lines on my car, (twice) eaten a hole our home’s exterior wood siding and ravaged our summer tomato crop. You are hereby cordially invited to hunt in my yard, James Hughes Davies.
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How about mobbers as dog food?
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Nor am I pasty etc because I eat a healthy balanced diet with plenty of veggies and fruit too unlike pasty faced vegans who have to take supplements in order to stay alive because their diet is so unnnatural.
- fenwoman, Wisbech in the beautiful fens, 14/1/2012 20:36
++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Yes I have noticed what fine looking specimens all you meat eaters are. You are so lean, so fit, so clear skinned, so healthy. I see you every day as you drag your feet along the pavements to get from A to B stopping off at C to fuel up on a burger, or kebab or whatever other bit carrion you have decided upon. Interestingly our hospitals are full of meat eater and some of you are so fat that you have to be sent off to Zoos. Yes fenwoman you are all a fine looking lot.
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oh god!! some of you over emtional birds would have no chance out here!! they eat everything.
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dinner party with Bill & Sheila
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