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Squirrels Stewed

A stew of squirrel meat cooked slowly with salt pork, butter, hot water, and cream or milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Squirrels Stewed

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Skin and clean the squirrels thoroughly, then wash in cold water and wipe dry.

  2. Cut the squirrels into quarters.

Cook

  1. In a frying pan, layer the salt pork, then add the squirrels, seasoning with salt and pepper.

  2. Add a little butter if desired and enough hot water to prevent burning.

  3. Cover and cook slowly until the squirrels are tender.

  4. When nearly done, remove the cover to allow the water to boil away.

  5. Add cream or milk to moisten the squirrels, heat again, and serve hot.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Pork + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,933 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  3. Pork + creamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,093 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,121 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Squirrels
Provide the main meat, which becomes tender through slow, covered cooking.
Salt pork
Adds fat and savory flavor as it renders into the pan.
Cream or milk
Adds moisture and richness to the finished squirrels when added at the end.

The step that matters

Cover and cook slowly until tender. Low, covered heat with a little water lets connective tissue in the lean meat break down gently, so the squirrels become tender without drying out or scorching.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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