WriterByNature.com

This is an adaptation of a recipe I found in a cook booklet, Old Pioneer Recipes. I am deeply grateful to this writer and historian.

The original recipe called for two squirrels, onion, butter, flour and Tabasco sauce. My recipe includes more vegetables and three sources of wild meat.

If you have read this far, then I can divulge that my classes at Hawk Circle included building and setting traps. Geniuses and Earth Mentors, Barry Keegan, Tony Follari and Ricardo Sierra all delight in finding new ways to inspire people to succeed in developing and applying wilderness survival skills. My fellow students and I caught a red squirrel and two mice. Here is our class recipe, which includes a deer tongue donated by a classmate.

Ingredients:

• 2-cups cleaned wild game meat (We used red squirrel, mouse and deer tongue.)
• 1 chopped onion
• 2 cloves of chopped fresh garlic
• 1 cup diced wild parsnips
• 3 Tbs deer fat (You can use butter.)
• 3-4 Tbs flour for thickening
• 2 8-inch unbaked pie shells

Procedure:

1. Put squirrel, mouse and tongue in a saucepan and fill to cover with water.
2. Cook slowly over low heat until each type of meat is tender.
3. Drain liquid and set it aside.
4. Remove squirrel and mouse meat from bones and cut into small pieces
5. Save the bones and make soup using extra reserve liquid.
6. Cut tongue into bite-size pieces and add to other meat.
7. Steam parsnips until tender.
8. Melt fat in a large skillet, add chopped onions and garlic, cook until golden.
9. For each cup of reserved liquid add 1.5 Tbs of flour, while pouring liquid into the skillet.
10. Stir constantly, bringing skillet contents to a boil.
11. Add parsnips and meat to the skillet and stir until contents are thoroughly mixed.
12. Pour into a pie shell. Cover pie and pierce with a fork.
13. Bake at 425-degrees F for 15-20 minutes, or until pie crust baked and golden brown.

For best results, let the pie cool before slicing.