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Message: <blockquote data-quote="IKL" data-source="post: 26375130" data-attributes="member: 567503"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/WOEYYA8.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />Squirrel doesn’t belong on a plate at an upscale restaurant. It belongs at a hand-carved wooden table, on a chilly day beside a woodstove, in a space where good friends tell hunting tales, share cooking techniques, and reinforce their desire to keep tradition alive.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/6tW0Ppx.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />From the underside of the tail, cut through the tailbone at its base, toward the spine, but stop before cutting all the way through the skin on the other side. Be sure not to cut into the digestive tract, and avoid cutting through the muscle on either side of the tail. The point here is to leverage the tail to create a starting point from which the hide can easily separate from the carcass. A cut too deep into the back or leg muscles will rip apart some of the best meat on the squirrel and will make the skinning process even more difficult.  Hold the squirrel upside down, firmly grasp the hind legs together with one hand, and step on the tail to keep it held in place.Slowly but steadily, pull the squirrel upward. This should pull the hide all the way up to the shoulders. With your index finger, separate the connective tissue between the head and the arms, allowing the hide to envelop the head and front feet completely.At this point, the back legs will still be covered. Run your index finger under the skin to free up enough of the back part of the hide for you to easily grip. Hold the squirrel by the upper body—arms and head together—and from the base of the thighs, pull the back part of the hide down the legs, all the way over the back feet.Cut off the head, then remove all four feet at the joint where the hide stops moving down the legs. I recommend a sturdy pair of butcher or game shears for this step. A solid hunting knife should have no problem cutting through a few small bones here and there, but doing so repeatedly will quickly dull the blade.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/A4mkMaj.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />With the squirrel on its back, pinch some of the belly muscle up, away from the guts. Make an incision near the groin area, and cut in a straight line, all the way up to the sternum. Keep the tip of the knife pointed upward to avoid puncturing the gutsWith the shears, cut through the sternum, up to the neck, to open the chest cavity. Alternatively, you can completely remove the rib cage by cutting through the rib bones where they meet the back muscles. There’s little meat on the ribs, but if you plan to make a broth resulting in the best gravy in the world, you should hold on to them.No matter how you treat the rib cage, the intestines will spill out after you open the belly. With one or two fingers, reach into the open chest cavity and pull out the remaining organs. Squirrels are small animals, and some think the size of the organs doesn’t justify the effort to save them. But even for the tiniest of harvestable squirrels, the heart, liver, and kidneys are worth keeping to fry and add to your gravy.With the shears, make a cut on each side of the pelvis, freeing up the rest of the lower intestines and the exit point of the digestive tract. <img src="https://i.imgur.com/xp8yKJs.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />If you plan to fry the squirrel, it’s best to cut it up into five pieces. The meat-rich parts we’re after are the front legs and shoulders, the hind legs, and the backstraps. The rib cage and less-meaty parts of the back and belly are perfect for broth or stock. Remove the back legs: Take the knife and cut from the pelvis, inside the groin, around the point where each leg attaches to the squirrel’s lower body. Bend the leg backward toward the spine to snap the hip joint, then cut away any remaining tissue to remove the leg.Remove the front legs: Cut from the neck, down the outside the rib cage, under the arm and around the shoulder. Unlike the back legs, which can be separated by breaking and cutting around the joint, the front legs are attached by a thin collarbone. Cut through this bone with a knife or shears, and the leg should come free.Trim the backstrap: With all four legs removed, the last remaining prize is the backstrap, the tender back muscles on both sides of the spine between the shoulders and hips. Take the shears and cut out the ribs (skip this step if you cut out the rib cage in the gutting process); keep them for broth. Cut through the spine below the neck, and do the same just above the hips. In both cases, it will be easy to tell by touch where the meaty parts end and the bony, less-desirable sections begin; that is where to make the cuts.   <img src="https://i.imgur.com/Ean2x7L.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><a href="https://www.wildmeat.co.uk/blogs/recipes/roast-squirrel-with-squash-sage-hazelnuts" target="_blank">https://www.wildmeat.co.uk/blogs/recipes/roast-squirrel-with-squash-sage-hazelnuts</a></blockquote>

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