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Stewed Squirrels

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

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Pork and beef match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,690 recipes. Both carry 12-methyltridecanal, which smells tallowy, beefy. The science ↓

Stewed Squirrels

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the squirrels

  1. Skin the squirrels and wash them quickly in cold water or wipe with a wet cloth to remove hairs.

  2. Cut the squirrels into quarters and discard the intestines.

Stew

  1. Layer fat salt pork in a saucepan, then add the squirrels.

  2. Season with salt and pepper, and add dripping or butter.

  3. Add enough water to prevent burning, cover, and cook gently until tender.

  4. Uncover the saucepan to allow water to stew away as the squirrels finish cooking.

  5. Add cream or milk to moisten, heat again, and adjust seasoning before serving 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. Pork + beeftop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,690 recipes

    Shared aroma: 12-methyltridecanal (tallowy, beefy).

  2. Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  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 + creamtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Pepper and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Squirrels
Provide the meat that becomes tender through slow, covered stewing.
Fat salt pork
Adds fat and savoury flavour as it renders into the saucepan.
Beef or veal dripping or butter
Adds richness and fat that carries flavour through the stew.
Cream or milk
Adds moisture and softness to the finished stew.

The step that matters

Adding water and cooking gently. Too little water lets the pan scorch before the squirrels are tender, while a hard boil toughens the meat. Gentle heat under a cover breaks down connective tissue slowly, so the meat becomes tender without drying out.

“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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