April 1, 2021
By Katy Budge
Like most of their species, my dogs have been obsessed with chasing squirrels – tearing out into the yard with great bluster and in full throat whenever they spotted one of the little critters. Over the many years and countless times that this ritual has occurred, I’ve always joked that when they catch one, we’ll be having Squirrel Burgoo for dinner.
Well, it finally happened. For once, the vertical escape route via a nearby tree didn’t work. And there it was at my dog’s feet. A dispatched squirrel. A no longer living member of the family Sciuridae. A gray, still-warm gauntlet challenge to my long-threatened dinner plans.
Thankfully, I own a 1975 copy of the venerable Joy of Cooking. This sixth edition was the last to be edited by Maria Rombauer Becker, Joy’s first illustrator and daughter of the original author, Irma Rombauer. It’s also the last edition to contain fully illustrated instructions on how to skin a squirrel for recipes such as burgoo. (Page 515, in the “Game” chapter)
Good to know that gray squirrels are preferred to the gamier-flavored red. Thanks to my dog for her attention to sourcing.
Also good to know that one should “don gloves to avoid possible tularemia infection.” The Mayo Clinic describes this as “… a rare infectious disease. Also known as rabbit fever or deer fly fever, it typically attacks the skin, eyes, lymph nodes and lungs. Tularemia is caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis.”
On went the gloves. I’ll spare you the rest of the details. And, no, I opted not to go all Davy Crockett hat with the tail.
The Recipe
On page 465 in the Joy of Cooking “Meat” chapter, nestled between recipes for Steak-And-Kidney Pie and Corned Beef, is the recipe for Kentucky Burgoo. I started off learning that I’d been saying the name wrong all these years. The emphasis is on the first syllable, hence BUR-goo. It’s described as a “long-simmered potpourri, a catch-as-catch-can mixture of meats, fowl and garden gleanings – with squirrel thrown in, in some authentic local versions …”
Well, that certainly fits in with the California ethos of farm-to-table – or in this case, yard-to-table.
Evidently, this dish I’ve been joking about all these years harks back far and wide to the Old World – from the Gypsies, to Spain, to Ireland. Normally an hours-long, community event, this Joy recipe is simplified and can be varied according to whatever meat is available, such as lamb, veal, beef, pork shoulder, and chicken.
Good to know. And yes, all the Joy of Cooking information is true!