Nuts about squirrel

TV, old-timey chic making bushytail cuisine respectable

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette squirrel illustration.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette squirrel illustration.

The tabloids were at it again. This time, taking aim at pop princess Britney Spears, who had already survived a series of melodramatic events, from a Justin Timberlake breakup to a child custody case.

The Internet chatter was the result of a 2009 tell-all book, which prompted a response on Spears' personal website: No, she didn't eat squirrel meat during her "trailer park days" while growing up in Kentwood, La.

The news traveled across the pond, causing the sale of squirrel meat to soar.

Did she or didn't she? If she did, then she would have had something in common with at least two U.S. presidents and arguably the greatest rock star to walk this planet. William Henry Harrison and James Garfield enjoyed squirrel stew and squirrel soup respectively. One of Elvis Presley's favorite dishes as a child was said to be fried squirrel.

Now, in 2014, could it be hip to eat squirrel? Joe Wilson of Bella Vista thinks so. As World Championship Squirrel Cook-off founder and Squirrels Unlimited president, he has already seen the interest grow, with a little help from the Travel Channel. Two years ago, Andrew Zimmern featured a segment on the cook-off, which is held each September in Bentonville, on his show, Bizarre Foods. This caught the attention of many national media outlets including Good Morning America and The Dr. Oz Show.

Granting interviews to the media, however, doesn't always get a desired response, Wilson says.

"It's kind of a catch-22 because anytime you mix the words 'squirrel' and 'Arkansas' in a sentence, they get motivated," he say. "They get motivated for different reasons."

One motivation, he says, is perpetuating stereotypes found in the 1960s situation comedy, The Beverly Hillbillies -- a show about a rural Ozark family living in Beverly Hills that often referenced eating possums, gophers, squirrels and other critters.

"By having our cook-off, it was one way for me to show chefs, housewives, country people and city people all come together and use squirrel as a

source of protein," Wilson says.

It may be working, thanks, ironically, to rural reality shows such as Duck Dynasty, Swamp People and Moonshiners, says Brooks Blevins, author of Arkansas/Arkansaw: How Bear Hunters, Hillbillies, & Good Ol' Boys Defined a State.

While the shows feature some buffoonery not unlike The Beverly Hillbillies, they are resonating with the masses, he says.

"It strikes me as part of a broader movement to get back in touch with some sort of authentic, or so-called authentic, rural roots in America," Blevins says.

Blevins, who lives in Izard County and teaches Ozarks studies at Missouri State University in Springfield, says the public's interest in those TV shows may stem from the technological boom and an unconscious yearning for simpler times -- one that could make eating squirrel and other wild game appealing.

That fascination extends to the silver screen as well, he says, pointing to the 2010 movie, Winter's Bone. Filmed in the Missouri Ozarks, Jennifer Lawrence's character searches for her drug-dealing father while taking care of her family. One scene depicts Lawrence and her younger siblings skinning and preparing a squirrel for dinner.

That scene led to something else: a visit to the area by bad boy chef and world traveler Anthony Bourdain for his TV show, No Reservations. While there, he tried his hand at skinning a squirrel in preparation for a pot pie. The next scene showed him heartily devouring the pot pie.

Squirrel meat got one inch closer to hipness.

...

Cooking and eating squirrel was a way of life for many during the Great Depression and World War II. Arkansas newspapers in the 1930s and 1940s featured, with no sense of irony, countless announcements of squirrel suppers by church and civic organizations. By the mid-1950s, reports of such functions dwindled.

There are a couple of theories as to why squirrel fell from popularity.

Ethel Simpson, emeritus professor with the University of Arkansas Libraries, says she spearheaded a project there to collect cookbooks to document the history and culture of Arkansas' cuisine. Through these cookbooks, she observed cooking and dining trends of not only Arkansas, but what she says were likely throughout the South.

For instance, wild game recipes of the early 20th century appeared to fade as store-bought, processed foods became more available.

"Over time, you see the introduction of prepared foods presented as part of the recipe -- like Jell-O salads or maybe a cobbler made with Bisquick instead of a shortening and flour recipe," she says.

Then came the deer.

In Arkansas, the white-tailed deer population has grown so much that driving at night on any of the state's roads can be perilous. Yet, in the 1920s, the animal came close to extinction, prompting state officials to enact shorter hunting seasons and smaller bagging limits. Now, the deer population is at least a million in Arkansas and maybe 2 million, says Clifton Jackson, quail/small game coordinator for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

"People are deer hunting more than ever," he says. "Certainly, our small game hunting is significantly less than it previously was."

He says about 300,000 new hunting licenses are issued each year and, during the past five years, only about 30 percent of those license holders indicated they would be hunting squirrel. Arkansas has two squirrel species, the gray and fox squirrel. The hunting season began May 15 and runs through Feb. 28, with a daily limit of 12 and a possession total of no more than 48.

"We probably have one of the most liberal squirrel seasons in the Southeast where you can hunt squirrel, basically, about nine months out of the year," Jackson says.

As the deer population booms in Arkansas, Britain is experiencing the same with the North American gray squirrel, which was introduced to the country in 1870 and has driven out the indigenous red squirrel. To save the decreasing red squirrel population, Brits are embracing gray squirrel meat at a faster pace than Americans. Such meat is available at select butcher shops, grocery stores and restaurants.

In the United States, however, for it to be sold at the local Wal-Mart Supercenter, it would need to be commercially raised and regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. So far, squirrel farming hasn't caught on.

...

It's a cool, sunny September morning at the Bentonville square, where a farmers market is underway. The sidewalks are filled with people eyeing and buying items from the endless stands of organic produce, cheese and other offerings. There's grill smoke in the air, and off in the distance Buck Owens can be heard singing "Together Again" through a sound system.

On a side street, a hand-scrawled sign informs visitors that the World Championship Squirrel Cook-off is underway but warns that the meat is not USDA regulated. Eat at your own risk. There's a man roaming around in a squirrel mask and a "taxidermied" squirrel affixed to a remote-control car chasing young children. For sale are squirrel T-shirts, a trap called "The Squirrelinator" and a device sold as "The Squirrel Cleaning Buddy."

One forgets that just a few hundred yards away is a building that houses Andy Warhols, Winslow Homers and Georgia O'Keeffes. The squirrel cook-off is to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art what Billy Carter was to brother President Jimmy. It's rascally and fun, but it may not be high culture.

Yet, high culture it could be.

Amid the camouflage, cowboy hats and classic country music pumping through the PA system, chefs with 28 Springs work furiously under their tent to create a squirrel meatloaf made from gray and fox squirrel. This is a Siloam Springs restaurant that boasts craft beer, handcrafted cocktails and a dinner menu that includes Duck Confit Egg Rolls and Southern Bourbon Mussels.

"We heard about the competition last year and it sounded like a fun challenge," says Dorothy Hall, 28 Springs chef.

She says she has prepared rabbit, oxtail and pigs' feet, and squirrel is a delicacy she can add to the array. "It's just another meat to cook," Hall says.

Mary Mulligan and Elizabeth Caruso, both of New York, lead their team, Scoiattolo, which is "squirrel" in Italian. They are preparing a squirrel dish with capers and anchovies along with squirrel toast, which features pecorino cheese and garlic -- an adaptation of a recipe from Mulligan's grandmother. Now living in New York, Mulligan says her family is from Lake Village and used to cook for others in an Italian community there.

Caruso says she had no trepidation about preparing squirrel. "I said, 'I'm very excited. I can't wait to try it,'" Caruso recalls telling her friend.

At the end of the competition, 28 Springs wins first prize, proving that, indeed, squirrel may someday be said in the same breath as beef bourguignon and lobster bisque.

And, perhaps, that will be the day when Spears admits to eating squirrel ... after she eats crow.

Style on 10/26/2014

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