Our friend, Tim Van Doren (a.k.a. Bamagrillmaster) came to the 2020 GAMO Squirrel Master Classic this year and shared one of his favorite squirrel recipes with us. Check this out if you are looking for a way to feast on squirrel.
• 6 - Whole Squirrels
• All Purpose Flour
• Buttermilk
• Hot Sauce
• Vegetable Oil
• 4 - Medium Onions
• A Dozen Baby Portabello Mushrooms
• Heavy Cream
• Salt and Pepper
Start off by marinating your Squirrels in buttermilk and hot sauce. The amount of hot sauce is up to you, but make sure the Squirrels are completely covered in the buttermilk.
Let squirrels marinate for 2 or 3 days in refrigerator. After your squirrels have marinated, pour all the liquid off of them and discard.
Next you wanna season your flour with salt and pepper.
Now get all of your squirrels all floured up and ready for frying. Have your Dutch oven ready with enough oil to fry the squirrels. Toss the squirrels in the grease, brown on both sides and then set aside. Make sure not to over crowd the pan, so it might take you a few batches of frying.
Once all squirrels are fried up, remove all of the oil except about an 1/8” to 1/4” left in the bottom. Rough slice your onions and throw in the pan to cook down a little. After your onions have sweated out 5 or 10 minutes, start adding flour to the onions in the pan until you get the consistency of the roux you want. I used the same flour that I coated the squirrels with.
Once you get the roux like you want it, cook 3 or 4 minutes stirring constantly. Now you wanna start adding your chicken stock or broth. This is gonna be up to you as to how much you need. I just keep adding and stirring until I get the consistency I want. You want it to be a little soupy because it still has a lot of cooking to do. When the gravy is where you want it, pour in a little heavy cream...you know just to make it a little more rich! At this point, you wanna taste your gravy to see if you might need more salt and pepper.
Now we are gonna rough chop the mushrooms and add to the gravy. Let it simmer for about 5 minutes and now it’s time to add the squirrels back in. Make sure all of the squirrels are submerged in gravy. Have your oven or grill preheated to 350 degrees.
Put the cover on the Dutch oven and place it in your oven/grill and allow to cook for an hour to and hour and a half. Remove from oven/grill and you are ready to eat!
You can plate over rice, mashed potatoes or my personal favorite, a good ole Southern Hoe Cake (see recipe below)!
– Southern Hoe Cake Recipe
• 4 - Cups of Self Rising Flour
• 2 - Cups of Whole Cultured Buttermilk
• 1/2 - Cup of Vegetable Oil
Preheat oven to 350 degrees with your cast iron pan inside to heat up as well. I like to put just a little drizzle of oil in the bottom of the pan while it is heating up. Next, mix all ingredients together until everything is incorporated. Once the oven is preheated, remove cast iron pan and dump hoe cake mixture in the pan and spread out evenly. Bake hoe cake until it is golden brown on top. Once you remove from oven, dump hoe cake out onto a cutting board and have the butter ready because it’s time to dig in! Slice you off a big ole hunk, cover it in butter and enjoy!
#BamaGrillMasterwww.bamagrillmaster.com