Squirrels have even less respect in the kitchen than they do in the woods. But that doesn’t stop Sid Havard from enjoying one of his favorite meals after he kills a mess of squirrels.
“I don’t know but one way to cook them,” he said. “Fried. I like to kind of cut them up in quarters like a chicken, salt and pepper them, roll them in flour and fry them up just like you would chicken.”
Havard doesn’t deep-fry squirrels, though. Rather, he puts just enough oil in a cast iron pan to cover only half the squirrel pieces. He cooks one side, and then turns them to cook the other side.
“Then I pour off some of the grease and make some gravy with the drippings, and eat them with biscuits and gravy,” Havard said. “Biscuits, gravy and fried squirrel — there aren’t too many meals I know of that is better than that.”
Cooking time for squirrels depends on the size of the critter. Younger squirrels, being more tender, fry up quicker than larger, old squirrels that tend to be a lot tougher.
“I don’t know of anything you can do to tenderize an old squirrel,” Havard said. “I know some of the old timers boil them before they fry them, but I’m not doing that.
“As long as they golden brown and crispy, it doesn’t matter to me if they are young or old.”
