Comments on: Nothing Out of the Ordinary: Squirrel Stewed, 1878 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/food/2012/02/nothing-out-of-the-ordinary-squirrel-stewed-1878/ A Heaping Helping of Food News, Science and Culture Fri, 24 May 2013 17:26:29 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4 By: WilliamB http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/food/2012/02/nothing-out-of-the-ordinary-squirrel-stewed-1878/comment-page-1/#comment-14926 WilliamB Thu, 16 Feb 2012 01:14:08 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/food/?p=11430#comment-14926 A number of years ago I was at George Washington's home at Mt. Vernon and the local wandering rat-catcher gave me a recipe for Rat Stew. I don't think it would turn out as the Squirrel Stewed but here it is (f-style s turned into modern s, otherwise unchanged): Ingredients: 1 large rat 4 tbl. butter 1 onion, chopped 1 tbl flour cloves or bayleaves 1 tbl vinegar 1 potato 2 carrots Wipe rat with vinegar cloth. Disjoint into serving pieces. Brown rat and onions in butter. Put in stew kettle with potato, carrots, seasoning and flour. Add enough water to cover. Cook until tender. Watch carefully as cooking time depends on age of rat. I find it a curious recipe. There is a modern table of ingredients, yet they are not in order of use, yet the instructions use more modern terms (brown, cook till tender), yet the veggies, seasoning and flour are just dumped in rather than browned and turned to roux as one would expect in a modern recipe. Most curious. A number of years ago I was at George Washington’s home at Mt. Vernon and the local wandering rat-catcher gave me a recipe for Rat Stew. I don’t think it would turn out as the Squirrel Stewed but here it is (f-style s turned into modern s, otherwise unchanged):

Ingredients:
1 large rat
4 tbl. butter
1 onion, chopped
1 tbl flour
cloves or bayleaves
1 tbl vinegar
1 potato
2 carrots

Wipe rat with vinegar cloth. Disjoint into serving pieces. Brown rat and onions in butter. Put in stew kettle with potato, carrots, seasoning and flour. Add enough water to cover. Cook until tender. Watch carefully as cooking time depends on age of rat.

I find it a curious recipe. There is a modern table of ingredients, yet they are not in order of use, yet the instructions use more modern terms (brown, cook till tender), yet the veggies, seasoning and flour are just dumped in rather than browned and turned to roux as one would expect in a modern recipe. Most curious.

]]>