# Survival > Foraging & Wild Edibles >  Rabbit/squirrel... Soup\stew

## pugslee

Catch, kill or trap one squirrel,or rabbit, or both, dress and quarter up. place into boiling water. Boil until completely done about 1 hour. Add wild onion or garlic, dandelion(whole plants cut into bite size pieces), if available some elk horn, bearded tooth, or morel mushrooms, planton, any other edible plant or mushroom you can find. For stew add the brown part of a cattail plant. BE REALLY SPARRING WITH THE WILD ONION AND GARLIC, ALSO DO NOT PUT IN TO MUCH CATTAIL FLOWER OR IT WILL GET TO THICK.

----------


## LowKey

Have you tried this?

----------


## rwc1969

The brown part of a cattail plant?

----------


## LowKey

Exactly.
And if I boil anything in water until it's done, a few other things are going in there at the start. Like the garlic for instance.

----------


## MaineBear

Forget squirrel stew, the thing will be tough as hell and full of bones. Best bet use for squirrel (IMHO) is to dust it with flour or corn starch and pan fry. An adult man would need 3 red squirrels or 2 gray; red are considerably less gamey during the summer. Both taste like turpentine come late winter, since they're living off evergreens.

Maine Bear

----------


## Edz

> Catch, kill or trap one squirrel,or rabbit, or both, dress and quarter up. place into boiling water. Boil until completely done about 1 hour. Add wild onion or garlic, dandelion(whole plants cut into bite size pieces), if available some elk horn, bearded tooth, or morel mushrooms, planton, any other edible plant or mushroom you can find. For stew add the brown part of a cattail plant. BE REALLY SPARRING WITH THE WILD ONION AND GARLIC, ALSO DO NOT PUT IN TO MUCH CATTAIL FLOWER OR IT WILL GET TO THICK.


I boil the dandelion first in a few waters.  otherwise it makes the stew way too bitter IMO.

edz

----------


## Edz

> Forget squirrel stew, the thing will be tough as hell and full of bones. Best bet use for squirrel (IMHO) is to dust it with flour or corn starch and pan fry. An adult man would need 3 red squirrels or 2 gray; red are considerably less gamey during the summer. Both taste like turpentine come late winter, since they're living off evergreens.
> 
> Maine Bear


Not if ya cook it long enough.  Also, add a little wood ash to the stew it will tenderize the meat a little.

edz

----------


## Rick

Yeah, nothing like a little lye to soften up an old squirrel.

----------


## sh4d0wm4573ri7

lmao oops sorry

----------


## Rick

I do two shows nightly. 7:00 and 10:00. Get your tickets early.

----------


## vahtryn

The best use for the many thousands of squirrels I relentlessly slaughtered as a child was to make enchilladas  :Wink:

----------


## coloradopilgrim

You use the bottom green parts of the cattail correct? It acts as almost a celery subtitute

----------


## kyratshooter

> Forget squirrel stew, the thing will be tough as hell and full of bones. Best bet use for squirrel (IMHO) is to dust it with flour or corn starch and pan fry. An adult man would need 3 red squirrels or 2 gray; red are considerably less gamey during the summer. Both taste like turpentine come late winter, since they're living off evergreens.
> 
> Maine Bear


Things must be slightly backwards in Maine!  Squirrel smaller or people bigger I suppose.

Here in KY the grays are small and yield a little over a pound of dressed out meat.  Reds are big bruisers and produce 2-3 pounds of meat.  When I fry up a gray I usualy have leftovers even though only the front and hind legs are worth cooking.

Thing about a survival situation is that you almost never have frying pan, flour and oil handy while you may be able to cobble together something in which to boil up a stew even if it is just stomping a piece of metal into a pan shaped object.

----------


## Sparky93

> Things must be slightly backwards in Maine!  Squirrel smaller or people bigger I suppose.
> 
> Here in KY the grays are small and yield a little over a pound of dressed out meat.  Reds are big bruisers and produce 2-3 pounds of meat.  When I fry up a gray I usualy have leftovers even though only the front and hind legs are worth cooking.
> 
> Thing about a survival situation is that you almost never have frying pan, flour and oil handy while you may be able to cobble together something in which to boil up a stew even if it is just stomping a piece of metal into a pan shaped object.


That's how all the squirrels I killed here have been, red bigger, grey smaller.

----------


## Rick

We don't have many grays around here. They've just about all been bred to reds. You might see a mostly gray one now and then but reds rule the roost around here. And man are they fat boogers. They live on bird seed and cracked corn year 'round. Oh, and cables. They seem to like cable tv more so than telephone but will eat either given the chance.

----------


## intothenew

Red Squirrel, I call em' Boomers and it takes three.

Gray Squirrel, tough for me to finish two.

Fox Squirrel, No way I could finish two in one setting.

----------


## tipacanoe

I'm with MaineBear on this one, the red squirrels are lucky to be even half as big as most of the gray's.

----------


## LowKey

yep, in New England the red squirrels are half again as big as a chipmunk or half the size of the grays, but the birdfeeder grays can get as bit as a small cat.
In MA, it's always open season on reds. Little buggers breed like rabbits. Grays have a closed season except in fall when they are nice and fat.

Cattails, you eat the roots. Sorta like potatoes. The can be dried and pounded into a flour for a thickener if you want. Be sure to plant back some of your harvest so you have some for next season.
You can also eat the white pulp inside the shoots. Young shoots though. 
Some people say you can eat the flower steamed like corn but it has to be green. Never tried that myself.

----------


## Rick

Problem with definitions I think. Foxes and reds around here are the same thing. Yes, I know they are different but we don't have reds so that's just how folks refer to them.

----------


## intothenew

"What we've got here is.......... failure to communicate"


I just couldn't resist.

----------


## Willie

> Problem with definitions I think. Foxes and reds around here are the same thing. Yes, I know they are different but we don't have reds so that's just how folks refer to them.


Thats how we have always classified them. We just called the red ones reds and the mixed colored ones Black/Gray or Black/Gray/and white we just referred to as foxes. And these are about 3 times bigger then the grays! The small red ones being talked about above, I have never seen these before.

----------


## Sparky93

> Problem with definitions I think. Foxes and reds around here are the same thing. Yes, I know they are different but we don't have reds so that's just how folks refer to them.


Us Hoosiers don't have those little red squirrels those are more like chipmunks (speaking of eating wires chipmunks love wire). If it is red it is a red squirrel, if it is grey it is a grey squirrel. Hoosiers are people of logic and reason.....

----------


## intothenew

> The small red ones being talked about above, I have never seen these before.


If you've ever met one, you'd remember. They are very territorial, squack at ya' for 30 minutes or more, ruin a deer stand. More meat than a ground squirrel.

----------


## Dink

I have used this recipe many times while camping.

Squirrel or rabbit, whichever is snared or shot first.

IF AVAILABLE: lightly dredge in flour and fry just to brown outside in the pot to be used for cooking stew. This adds extra flavor.
If time allows, you can pulverize the root of cattail and let it dry, then pound to a powder, this can be used as a flour of sorts, and will double as a thickener, just make sure not to burn it!!

Add water, and ingredients gathered throughout the day, which generally include: wild onion, assorted mushrooms (morels, reds, chicken of the woods, etc), wild garlic, wild carrot, wild parsley, purslane, cattail root, young polk, and whatever else I find that is edible and will add flavor.

Set pot to boil and let boil at a medium pace for about 2-3 hours, stir regularly. If you want it thicker, use more of the dried pulverized cattail root. I am a salt-aholic, a lack of it will set off seizures in me, so I carry salt in ALL my packs and make sure I have plenty when I go camping, so I know I always have plenty to add to stews.

When a few of hours have pased, and the stew is thickened, you will find the meat has tenderized very well and is falling off the bone. You have a very nutritious and filling meal ALL from nature...except my salt of course...unless you are somewhere that you can harvest even this ingredient!!

While the food is cooking, you can be setting up camp, gathering extra firewood, etc. When all your work is complete, you will find the food is ready and you are set for the evening!! Just keep in mind, as you go about your daily plans in the wilds...always keep your eyes open for foods you can gather to add to your nightly meal!! And if you cover the pot and store it properly (hanging high in a tree...you might even have enough to warm up for a delicious breakfast to go along with any bird eggs or other things you might find to have early in the day!!

Add some (individually or combined) pine needle or wild rose hip tea with a dab of honey or honeysuckle flowers to sweeten it and you have a healthy hot good morning drink!!

----------

