By: Rylee Owens

When it comes to Southern comfort food, Brunswick stew might be one of the first meals that comes to most peoples’ minds.

Below is a Brunswick stew recipe with a twist—it features squirrel meat.* As we enter the cooler months, keep this dish in mind for gatherings, like your favorite game day tailgate celebration. Especially if you and your family enjoy a good day of squirrel hunting. This is a great way to showcase lean and healthy meat harvested by you.

*Squirrel season is open between Aug. 15-Feb. 28!

Ingredients:

  • 12 gray squirrels: Cleaned but whole and rubbed with a little meat tenderizer
  • 2 cans of fire-roasted diced tomatoes
  • 2 cans of corn
  • 2 cans of beans: Choose from small butterbeans, great northern beans, red beans, or black beans if you don’t mind a slight color change in the presentation
  • 1 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce or 2 cups of your own concoction, but avoid any yellow Carolina sauce
  • 2-4 finely diced large Vidalia onions: Adjust based on your onion preference
  • Optional: 1 six-pack of beer (or favorite beverage of your choice)

Instructions:

1. Place the squirrels on a smoker, keeping them away from direct heat to prevent drying out due to their lean nature. Monitor them closely and remove them once the meat easily pulls off the bone, which should take about 1-2 hours, depending on your smoker. Transfer the cooked squirrels to a large bowl and have an empty bone bowl ready. Alternate preparation: You can also boil the squirrels with liquid smoke (if you want to take the fun out of it).

2. In a large stew pot, combine all ingredients except the squirrels and the onions, and heat on medium-high heat.

3. Turn on the Georgia game and start picking the meat from the smoked squirrels. Place the bones in the bone bowl along with any shot pellets you find. This process will take until about half-time to finish since it will be start-and-stop based on game activity.

4. Add the meat to the pot (turn heat to low) with the other ingredients and stir in the onions so they will keep a little bit of crunch. The stew is ready to eat, but if you let it simmer on very low heat it will age like a fine wine…or a delicious, flavorful stew.

5. Enjoy the process: Don’t forget to sip on a cold one (your beverage choice) throughout the cooking process.

6. When everyone is good and hungry, serve and remember…Go Dawgs!

(Recipe generously provided by John Stone who says “I always place well with this recipe in our annual church wild game supper.”)

Have any game recipes you’d like to share? Drop them in the comments!

Rylee Owens is a communications specialist in the Georgia DNR Wildlife Resources Division.