I know our ancestors here in the USA used to eat squirrel, especially when making dishes like Brunswick Stew but I personally can not stand the thought. I guess the most unusual dish I have ever eaten was a taste of Frog Leg, and it did taste like chicken.
Oh no! I take that back. When we were in Portugal some years back with another couple. we had a car and driver. Our driver wanted to treat us to an authentic Portugese dish so he stopped at a truck stop. He ordered stewed cowbelly and beans and insisted we all taste it. I was the only brave one and it was not half bad.
Tasted like chicken:)
What is the most unusual food you have ever tried?
From the Dailymail.co.uk
"I haven't tried grey squirrel but people I know who have say it tastes like chicken used to taste when it tasted like chicken."
Top Lakeland restaurant serves up Peking duck-style squirrel pancakes
Nuts: Grey Squirrel is served in canapes
A top restaurant is serving up free grey squirrel pancakes to hungry diners.
Peking duck-style squirrel wraps are being offered to diners at The Famous Wild Boar Hotel.
The restaurant at Crook, near Windermere, in Cumbria, is giving diners the chance to try the canapes free of charge.
The grey squirrels were caught in the hotel's 72-acre woodland grounds and have been prepared by head chef Marc Sanders.
Hotel general manager Andy Lemm said: "Although we do still have red squirrels, the greys are everywhere.
"Our diners seemed to enjoy the squirrel pancakes and I thought they tasted rather nice, a bit like rabbit."
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Nibble: Wild Boar Hotel head chef Marc Sanders with the Peking duck-style squirrel treats
Lord Redesdale's Red Squirrel Protection Partnership specialises in trapping and despatching greys to protect the reds.
The partnership has killed 4,521 greys since January, and Lord Redesdale said: "The problem is that when we catch and despatch greys, there is nothing we can do with them.
"We would like to be a supplier of grey squirrels. With an estimated five million greys in the country, there are enough of them to go round."
James Cookson runs the Flying Fox sales and marketing venture for food and rural businesses, based near Morpeth, Northumberland, which also features the Comfort at Meldon Park restaurant.
He said: "Grey squirrels can be eaten and there is no reason why they shouldn't be eaten.
"It makes sense if you are catching something to make use of it.
"We have some grey traps set at the moment and I would be willing to try it, without a doubt.
"If we could get enough greys and a suitable recipe then I can see no reason why it shouldn't be on the menu.
"Our reds are disappearing, and perhaps the more greys that are eaten, the better it is for the reds."
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Endangered: Red Squirrels are under threat because of a burgeoning population of greys
Carri Nicholson, manager of the Save Our Squirrels project based at Northumberland Wildlife Trust, said: "It is far more ecologically and environmentally sound to find a use for what is being trapped.
"A number of places in Northumberland are thinking of having grey squirrel on the menu.
"I haven't tried grey squirrel but people I know who have say it tastes like chicken used to taste when it tasted like chicken.
"The Americans have numerous recipes for grey squirrel, with the most popular being Brunswick Stew, which is casseroled squirrel."
Last year Lord Inglewood, who lives near Penrith in Cumbria, warned the red squirrel will soon become extinct if the non-native grey population is allowed to go on increasing.
He suggested then that one way of dealing with the problem would be to foster a market for grey squirrel meat.
He said: "What about celebrity chefs like Jamie Oliver promoting it for school dinners? I have never actually eaten a grey squirrel but I am prepared to give it a go."
(one of the comments about this article)
"Here in NY grey squirrel pancake is better known as roadkill."
(click on title of this post for link and for photos of the "cute squirrels")
9 comments:
I'm not very adventuresome about trying unusual foods, but I guess the most unusual thing I've tried is alligator. Ugh. Maybe it was just knowing what it was, but I thought it tasted fishy.
I've eaten squirrel. Not because I wanted to - but because my dad made spaghetti sauce with it and didn't tell me first. ICK!
I have also had alligator sausage, and I have had rattlesnake and chocolate-covered grasshoppers (in college).
I have had rattlesnake. It was fine if you can get over it being a snake:)
I can't say that I have ever tried squirrel.. but I have had rabbit and Octopus. The rabbit did taste a bit like chicken.. only better. And the Octopus was chewy.. but actually quite good.
I've eaten squirrel when I was young, liked it, but am not pre-disposed to eat it now for various reasons. Among some other non-traditional foods, also ate snapping turtle numerous times, again tasted good -- purported to have the taste of seven different kinds of meat -- but I was young, and don't recall the tastes. Then, there was the barbeque buffalo...had a bit of a "wild" taste that took some getting used to.
I'm not very adventuresome when it comes to trying foods I'm not that familiar with either. Just the thought of some of it....eek. In the final analysis....most of it really does taste like chicken...or so I'm told. I look at the comments by everyone, and I haven't tried any of that stuff. The closest I've come that I can remember is fried clams...ooo, scary huh?
my most unusual food would be frog legs which tasted just like white meat chicken. can't even imagine eating squirrel. i think they are so adorable. we feed ours peanuts. it would be like eating a pet. ackkkkk....
i grew up in a household which prepared venison regularly since my father was a deer hunter. i hated the idea of it and still don't eat it, but i have tasted it. it has a very wild and tangy taste to me.
I have traveled quite a bit and am an adventurous eater. I have drunk kava in the South Pacific which tastes like muddy water and I have eaten (just once to try) live squid (small pieces) in sauce that wiggles as you swallow it!!
My dad was a hunter and mom was a great cook, so when times were lean squirrel appeared on the table. It was okay, but the occasional buckshot surprise was a bit of a shock.
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