Squirrel Meat—Delicious But Deadly? by Johnathan Smith

First posted on 12-31-2007

One of my favorite movies is National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. There is one particularly funny scene in which a squirrel has hitched a ride inside the Griswold house sequestered in the tree Clark has set up. The squirrel is discovered and makes a run for it, causing chaos and panic among the fleeing main characters.

Amid the confusion, Clark turns to his wife’s cousin Katherine and asks her, “Where is Eddie, doesn’t he eat these d?!$#% (expletive deleted) things?” She replies, “Not lately, he heard they are high in cholesterol.”

I have for some time taken that statement as truth. However, I have recently been doing research on the movie and came across this information.

According to the USDA nutrition database, 100 grams of “Game meat, squirrel, cooked, roasted” contains only 121 mg of cholesterol. This compares quite favorably to 1 cooked whole egg at 213 mg cholesterol, 1 cup of raw oysters at 120 mg. and one 5oz can of canned boneless chicken at 88mg. Most vegetable products, of course, contain little to no cholesterol.

This clearly shows that squirrel meat is no more laden with life stealing cholesterol than any other meat or dairy product.

How should one go about eating their squirrel bounty? Why, in Brunswick Stew naturally.

Literary humorist Roy Blount Jr. says of the dish, “Brunswick Stew is what happens when small mammals carrying ears of corn fall into barbeque pits.”

For those of you not familiar with Brunswick Stew, it is a traditional dish normally prepared with small game including rabbit, dove, woodchuck, and last but not least squirrel.

The stew was first created and served in 1828 and named after the Virginia county in which it was conceived. Numerous excellent recipes are on the internet for Brunswick Stew; probably not a bad one in the bunch.

We can assume that Cousin Eddie would heartily approve of a nice squirrel based Brunswick Stew; especially around the holidays. If you are planning on hosting your own Christmas Vacation Holiday Party please consider making a tasty pot for your guests! As Eddie would say, “It is goooooood Clark!”

About the Author: The author, John Smith, is a true Christmas Vacation fanatic. He has worn out many copies of Christmas Vacation on VHS tape, Laser disk (Don’t ask…), and DVD as he enjoys watching it year round. His favorite web site is http://www.melkmugs.com where Melk Mugs - Christmas Vacation Style Moose Mugs can be had.