Squirrel gumbo

Squirrel is gamey??
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Like any game animal, the flavor/texture of the meat depends on what the animal has been eating and it's age. It also depends on how it's been processed. Squirrel hunting sometimes takes place during warm weather and many time the animals are not processed immediately. I've also found that by removing the ribs and only using the legs and back improves the overall taste. Squirrels also have glands under their front legs that many new squirrel hunters don't find until they bite into them................
 
It ain't soup, it ain't stew, it's gumbo.
This is the way I make it and the way I like it.
 

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Squirrel is for sure worth eating. And Buck hit the nail on the head when he stated that how you process it has an effect on taste. Also how you prepare it.

@LarryNTX, that is some great looking gumbo you got there.
 
@BUCK460XVR, we are doing an East Asian style menu for a banquet tommorrow at work. Anyway we have ribs on the menu and one of my fellow chefs was in charge of the ribs and I noticed that when he did his glaze for the ribs, he used a cornstarch slurry to thicken his Japanese style glaze for the ribs and I thought of you and chuckled.

Also to keep this on topic our Executive Sous Chef made catfish gumbo for another banquet that we have tomorrow. I tried to bounce the idea of a squirrel gumbo off his head, but he shot it down pretty quickly. I guess the people in the River Oaks neighborhood of Houston don't care much for squirrel. :rolleyes:
 
979, my son lives up in Tomball, he would be there for the gumbo only if his champion kemmer cur that could provide all the meat was welcome. He would invite all the kids present on a hunt and teach them how to properly prepare the meat. Hespecially only 11 but has been taught well.
 
Well thanks Boogershooter. I would love for him to have his cur present but I doubt the country club that I work for would allow that. But your son doesn't live to far from where I work. Tomball is on the Northwest edge of Houston, Ive been through there several times. I work a little over 30 minutes from Tomball. Those cur dogs are some darn good huntin dogs too. Alot of people where I'm from use mainly Black Mouth curs and some Catahoula and a few Mountain Curs. But they are extremely common in my neck of the woods. Ive hunted many a hog with curs and worked many many cattle with Black Mouths. I used to have a Catahoula cur growing up that I hunted hogs and coons with. My parents have a Black Mouth now that they use to work their cattle with. But if your son's cur is a female and he's looking for another dog to have a litter with I know someone who is looking for a female cur right now to have a litter with.
 
979 I talked to his mother and they definitely don't want to breed her til after season. I also have a couple of female kemmer curs. One is just a pup but the other is over a year old. She's already had her first cycle and I will breed her after season as well. The thing about the kemmer dogs they are actually a mountain cur that a fellow in Tennessee started breeding just for the traits he wanted. They are usually smaller than black mouth or Catahoula but are better at treeing. Very loyal dogs and will fight anything in their path. No fear in these dogs. When I do breed my dogs I will be selling the pups for a very small fee just to cover the shots and vet costs. Should be around $30 a pup. Nothing like a boy and his dog bringing home meat.

I know some people don't like hunting with dogs but for some strange reason I feel safer when my kids are hunting with theirs. Maybe I watched too many Lassie episodes lol.
 
Very good! They are very loyal and can get really protective of the kids. As long as you socialize them with other dogs no worry about that but if I were hiking or fishing in bear country I would definitely take mine. No fear in these dogs. They are best suited for treeing dogs but alot of people here have made hog dogs out of them. Again no fear they will Bay and hold all but the biggest hogs. I strongly urge anybody that gets one of these make them a family pet before training them to hunt. The prey drive in these dogs is unbelievable. They will hunt hard and not quit on you when it's hot or cold. My eldest dog got ran over last summer. Broke front and back legs along with most of her ribs. With both legs in a cast she still got up to greet my kids at the front door every evening when they returned home from school.
 
For those of you familiar with hunting dogs I will add a bit of extra info. I've been on coon hunts and seen these dogs win high level competitions but that is a rarity. All the kemmer curs I've hunted with and know their owners, do not bark on a track. They will bark once or twice before they lock down on a tree. So if you take them in the woods at night they will tree a coon but they may be a mile away before they do.

For hog dogs they really are fun to see but my experience so far is that they often don't bark til they actually see or hear the hog. They work great in a mixed pack because your other dogs will bark while trailing a hog but when you hear the cur open up you know for sure they are on him. If it's the only kemmer cur in the pack and has been hunting with the pack for several years they sometimes will bark more but not always.

Robert Kemmer special bred mountain curs for the traits he wanted and that was for squirrel dogs. They truely shine at this. It's common for 8 week old pups to tree squirrels all by its self if you imprint them on squirrel scent from the day they are born. Put squirrel scent in their kennel. Put a squirrel tail under their feed bowl. Show them a live squirrel in a cage as soon as they are old enuf to start crawling around and using their noses. All they know is squirrel scent is good. They smell it when they eat and sleep. So when they hit the woods for the first time they will automatically be looking for squirrels.
 
While at the grocery store the other day, I came across this on sale and it reminded me of this thread. Thought I'd give it a try using some home ground sausage....about three pounds worth. Also added about a cup of corn and a cup of peas. Turned out great.....:D

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