Garlic Squirrel Confit

It’s just about impossible to talk squirrels with someone who isn’t a hunter. Just about anything else- deer, rabbit, waterfowl, turkey- people tend to at least humor my enthusiasm about the subject, even when they don’t have any firsthand experience. But when I try to convey the fun & frustration of a squirrel hunt, a lot of people can’t begin to separate the difficulty of the pursuit from their experiences with their backyard squirrels. And don’t get me started on eating them. 

Eating squirrel is a punchline to the unlucky folks who haven’t had the pleasure of trying one. I would say it’s a shame, but really, I’m kind of okay with it. If people could really understand how fun they are to hunt, and how delicious they are on the table, the woods would be full of yahoos crunching around, missing shots, and I’d have an even harder time getting one in my bag.

I’ve mentioned it before, but white meat is kind of a rarity in our diet. We eat a lot of red meat and a lot of fish, but a few turkeys and rabbits only get you so far through the year. And honestly, the squirrel is probably my favorite of the white meat we do manage to harvest during the season. It might be because there’s never that much of it, but I think it’s got a depth of flavor that goes way beyond any other white meat wild game we’ve had. Sure, it’s a little tough eating and cooking around all the tiny bones, but when every bite is as tender and succulent as can be, it’s worth it.

A few people have had bad experiences with eating squirrel- I’ve run into folks who say it’s tough. The problem with squirrel is that the traditional preparation, where it’s chicken fried, really only shines with a young squirrel. If you’re not experienced enough to tell which squirrels are going to be tender enough for that style of cooking, you’re in for a bad time. We’ll often sous vide the legs in oil until tender and then fry to avoid this problem- no matter how big & old the squirrel, the meat will be fall-off-the-bone tender. That method is essentially a high-tech confit, but you don’t need a sous vide machine to confit a squirrel.

Confit is a near perfect way to cook wild game that can tend towards toughness. The technique boils down to cooking the meat low and slow, submerged in oil until it is perfectly tender. The bath of fat adds richness to otherwise lean meat, and the low and slow heat application breaks down tough tissue into melty, umami-rich protein. And just like a braise, it's wide open to personal tweaks. 

We cooked this batch of squirrels in olive oil with a few heads of garlic. The olive oil gives these squirrels a brighter flavor than duck fat, and like our rabbit confit recipe, we are finding that we prefer the olive oil over the more traditional duck fat for lighter game meats. 

Once tender, these garlic confit squirrels are ready for just about any preparation. We like to crisp them up under a broiler and pair them with veggies roasted in the leftover oil. Or we pull them off the bone and use them in any number of dishes from tacos to ravioli.

Garlic Squirrel Confit

Servings: varies

Cook time: 24 hours inactive, 20 minutes active

Ingredients:

3 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

2-3 squirrels

1 bulb garlic, split crosswise

1-2 bay leaves

1 tsp black peppercorns

Extra virgin olive oil

Method:

Mix sugar and salt together and season the outside of the squirrels with it. Try to rub them as completely as possible with the mixture, then cover and refrigerate them overnight.

Preheat the oven to 275F. Rinse and pat squirrels dry, then place them in a dutch oven with all the remaining ingredients. Add just enough olive oil to cover them. This will seem like a lot of oil, but you’ll want to save it and use it on everything later, so don’t worry about it too much. Put the lid on the dutch oven and place it on the center rack. Cook until fork tender, or around 2 hours.

When the meat yields easily to the tines of a fork, remove from the oven. Take the lid off and allow them to cool for a bit.

Preheat broiler. Remove squirrels from the oil, place in a shallow pan and broil for 3-4 minutes until crispy on the edges. Allow them to cool enough to handle and shred meat or serve whole.

Reserve oil for other uses- it is wonderful for dressing roasted vegetables or for dipping bread into.

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