Rodents, one of several kinds of vertebrates included in the human diet, are very suitable as human food. More than 71 genera and 89 species of rodents, mostly hystricomorphs, have been consumed by man. Some have even been domesticated for private or commercial production of food for human consumption. Rodents in the temperate world serve only as a supplement to the regular diet of humans; but in the tropical world, they are widely accepted and a popular source of protein. Although harvesting field rats for human food is beneficial, it is not an effective pest control strategy. Consuming rodents in pesticide-treated areas and handling rodents with potential zoonoses are two possible risks.
Porcupine:Porcupine Stew
Rat:How to kill, cook and eat a rat
Guinea Pig:Guinea Pig Recipes
Agouti:Curry Stew Agouti
Nutria:Cook 'em up: Recipes for Nutria
Beaver:Country Style Beaver
Muskrat:Smothered Muskrat and Onions
Racoon (not a rodent, just tasty):Baked Coon with Southern Dressing
Groundhog:Woodchuck (Groundhog) Pie
Prairie Dog:Prairie Dog Recipes
Marmot:Marmot Boodog
Chipmunk:3 Bean Chipmunk Chili
Gopher:Yummy Gopher Recipies!
Mice:Mice as a Delicacy
Dormouse:Stuffed Dormouse
Hamster:Barbeque Hamster Steaks and Hammyburgers
Gerbil:Gerbil Stir-fry
CapybaraVenezuela's giant rodent cuisine
Squirrel:How to Catch, Prepare, Cook and Eat a Squirrel
How to prepare the animal. This is specific to a squirrel, but should work for any rodent:
Step 1
Rinse the freshly killed squirrel in water, ensuring it is entirely saturated. Leave the squirrel in the water long enough to soak to the skin; this will keep the hair together and make it easier to skin.
Step 2
Take out the entrails using a sharp knife. Cut on the belly from just under the ribs, through the abdomen and toward the hindquarters. Remove the bladder first, being careful not to spill any urine on the meat. Open the pelvis and take out the remaining organs.
Step 3
Skin the squirrel by slicing just under the skin from the hind end and over the belly to the squirrel's flanks. Take the tail and pull toward the forelegs, removing the hide.
Step 4
Cut off the squirrel's feet and head. Pull the remaining skin from the legs. Remove the innards as soon as possible. Meat that marinates in the innards will taste gamy.
One of these things is not like the others... Raccoons are rodents? They'll hunt you down for the insult!
ReplyDeletethat first one is a hedgehog not a porcupine
ReplyDeleteIt's a porcupine
DeletePorcupines have flat noses, hedgehogs have a long and slender snout. Looks like a porcupine to me. I fed enough hedgehogs in my garden when I was stationed in England.
DeleteThank you both, noted.
ReplyDeleteDo we have guides on how to butcher these animal effectively?
ReplyDeleteGood point, just added.
ReplyDeleteFurther to Anonymous' point about butchering... beavers and groundhogs definitely have scent glands that must be removed as part of the butchering, or the meat will be tainted.
ReplyDeleteI went to butcher a groundhog/garden assassin once... the carcass had so many external parasites that I built a fire over it where it lay and burned it entire instead. Yecccch.
Even though the odds of contracting it are low, prairie dogs can be infected w/ the Bubonic Plague. Just about anything that fleas are partial to can also be infected, too.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the ground squirrels we see running all over the place here in California? If anyone needs help with budgets, it's us! Those little suckers are everywhere, digging holes and being general nuisances!
ReplyDeleteAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH D: D: D: D: D:
ReplyDeleteWhat? no pigeon pie??
ReplyDeletelol
ReplyDeleteFrom the survival standpoint it is good to know these critters are edible and how to cook them. I suppose any of them could be prepared and then roasted over a fire or cooked in a fire pit. It would be important I think to make sure they're well done. I at mountain beaver once that had been cooked overnight in a fire pit, and it was deliciously mild-flavored and tender.
ReplyDeleteDoing this to animals is cruel!
ReplyDeleteExcuse me . . . ? Eating meat is not cruel. Have you not noticed that almost all people globally eat meat? And that all the carnivore and omnivore animals spend their entire lives surviving on eating other live creatures?
DeleteThis is absolutely creul! his makes me sick.
ReplyDeleteI like to bone out racoons and grind the meat and mix aith some ground beef to make meat loaf! Quite Tasty.
ReplyDeleteMy nephew got me into squirrels barbequed on the grill.
As a youngster in my teens and early 20's, every opening day (September 1) in Illinois, I'd go to a nearby farm and shoot a couple groundhogs (in exchange for ridding his farm from these damaging pests, he allowed me to deer hunt his land). My Dad (grew up in the depression) showed me how to clean them and make a stew with local fungus and wild veggies. Never forget how satisfying it was to eat a meal made of such natural ingenuity.
During the hard times when I was a child we feasted on Rodents and frogs and they were very tasty little creatures along with wild veggies.
ReplyDelete