With some meats, canning ‘em is the easy part

EVERY YEAR, RIGHT ABOUT this time, I have a look through my freezer to gauge the amount of game meat I’ve got left from last season. Usually, by the end of August, we’re just about out.

This is perfect because that and some fish will get us through until hunting season starts and the wild meat collection begins anew.

As I was doing freezer inventory, I noticed we had a couple of wood ducks left, as well as one package of venison and two packages containing the meat of six eastern gray squirrels in total.

I would have cried out in joy, but for some inexplicable reason, Jenn does not like squirrel meat like normal people do.

She dislikes the thought of it so much that I end up cooking it when she visits her sister or dad. In fact, the mere mention of cooking it will cause her to visit her sister or dad.

Despite this, it occurred to me that squirrel season starts again in less than a month. So I thought I

had better use what’s left to clear the way for some fresh stuff. Thought processes like these are why Jenn never asks what I’m thinking.

So I got out my pressure cooker and pressure canned those squirrels. This is something I typically do with some cuts of venison. Pressure canning breaks down tough cuts of meat and tenderizes it so that it melts in your mouth. Canned venison is great on sandwiches or in stews. That’s when I figured, why not squirrel?

For me, this was my E=MC2 moment.

I’m pleased to say it turned out great and for the next little while I enjoyed squirrel on a bun every second day at lunch – which Jenn, along with the local squirrel population, found a little disconcerting.

That’s normal however. My experience is that the minute I tell some people I enjoy a good feed of squirrel, they nod politely and then retch.

When you think of it, however, that’s unfair. Squirrels consume good food: corn, apples, acorns, beech nuts and mushrooms to name a few. There’s no reason they should taste anything but good. And they do.

Also, let’s be clear. Those same people who retch at squirrel often enjoy tofurkey.

The squirrel, which I canned with beef broth and steak spice, was tender and tasted very much like venison roast, which is, let me just point out, the exact opposite of tofurkey. There were no ill effects either, other than a strange urge to climb trees, hang out at birdfeeders and buy nuts at the grocery store.

Right now, many of you are probably mulling over the one question that troubles everyone, so I’ll answer it now – it takes three deboned squirrels to fill up one 500 ml jar. This means since the legal possession limit for squirrel is 15, you’ll need to have five 500 ml jars ready to go for midSeptember. There. Now you can sleep at night.

I was mentioning this to Jenn the other day just before I finally found my 500 ml jars in the darkest corner of the basement, under a pile of cardboard, tucked deep behind the furnace oil tank.

I must be getting old. For the life of me, I don’t remember putting them there.