Speaker 1: Welcome to This Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves
Speaker 1: from coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living.
Speaker 2: I want you to stay a.
Speaker 1: While as I share my experiences and life lessons. This
Speaker 1: Country Life is presented by Case Knives on Meat Eaters
Speaker 1: Podcast Network, bringing you the best outdoor podcast.
Speaker 2: The airwaves had off.
Speaker 1: All right, friends, grab a chair or drop that tailgate.
Speaker 1: I've got some stories to share. It's our first bonus
Speaker 1: episode of This Country Life. And if you heard us
Speaker 1: on the Bear Grease Render talking about the World Championship
Speaker 1: Squirrel Cookoff, you may not have known that. Me and
Speaker 1: Reva Hanson we're also walking around visiting with folks about
Speaker 1: the squirrels they were cooking and the methods they were using.
Speaker 1: And we're fixing to talk about it now. If you
Speaker 1: like to say see what we're talking about, hop on
Speaker 1: over to the Meat Eater Podcast Network YouTube channel and
Speaker 1: watch along.
Speaker 2: Listen to you every week.
Speaker 3: But hey, Paul, Yeah, yeah, we are here.
Speaker 1: With Paul and they were the World Champion Squirrel Cookoff
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2: Now, where are you all from?
Speaker 4: Northern Kentucky? He's from Litchfield, Kentucky and Paul's from Columbia, Kentucky.
Speaker 1: All right, all right now and Kentucky's represented Well here
Speaker 1: tell me what you're fixing that.
Speaker 4: We're making a It's a campfire Cumberland campfire pie. It's
Speaker 4: made with a Cumberland sauce, been around since the seventeen hundreds,
Speaker 4: wild game sauce. It's got currant jelly and stuff in it,
Speaker 4: really good sauce. And I'm making cherry fritters with a
Speaker 4: prey leaned squirrel and hickory nuts on the top of it,
Speaker 4: and then little pepper's on the side just because man.
Speaker 2: That makes me hungry just thinking about it.
Speaker 5: Now.
Speaker 2: Is this different from what you cooked last year?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Last year we went with a called it to a squirrel,
Speaker 4: Loretta I did. Uh yeah, I think you were one
Speaker 4: of the judges. It was on the uh steak I
Speaker 4: am sauce basically going the squirrel eggs. Yeah, with mince
Speaker 4: meat tried pies.
Speaker 2: That is incredible. How'd you go over with this?
Speaker 1: And what's the process of trialing there to get it
Speaker 1: going well?
Speaker 4: Uh?
Speaker 1: This year's recipe?
Speaker 4: I was sitting in a deer stand, got bored, started
Speaker 4: looking up wild game sauces and That's what I came
Speaker 4: up with, was that that, And then I've been wanting
Speaker 4: to do the pritters. We did the mince meat last year,
Speaker 4: and just just researching old game recipes and stuff, something
Speaker 4: a little bit different.
Speaker 2: All right, this is something I'm asking everybody. Will you
Speaker 2: set us some aside that we can come back and
Speaker 2: try it a little bit?
Speaker 4: We sure will.
Speaker 2: Yes, all right, that's that's proof right there. We'll get
Speaker 2: you something.
Speaker 4: I actually, actually I've got a pot of groundhauled chili
Speaker 4: over there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, trail ballooney really.
Speaker 4: Made from brown whistle pig chili.
Speaker 2: Oh well, we got to try that too. What you
Speaker 2: got there?
Speaker 4: We're testing the fritters.
Speaker 2: Is it hot?
Speaker 7: Yeah?
Speaker 2: I'm trying to get my almond right, tell me what?
Speaker 2: Tell me what all is in there?
Speaker 4: Just a flour, sugar, bacon now I'm Michigan sour cherries,
Speaker 4: a little almond to jazz it up a little bit.
Speaker 1: Now, my grandpa when he took a bite of something,
Speaker 1: you know, he liked it.
Speaker 2: If he said, you know what, this tastes like. It
Speaker 2: tastes like more that that good.
Speaker 1: We'll get you a full deal with everything going with
Speaker 1: that's good man, Thank you, thank you very much.
Speaker 2: Brand I'm the I'm the baker.
Speaker 4: Was at a flea market. I thought of you, said,
Speaker 4: I read verse they in. Now I know you know
Speaker 4: this guy is about country boys, the old swimming holes
Speaker 4: pull them in the last I'd like you to have
Speaker 4: it and that it is. Yeah, every time when I
Speaker 4: read it, I said, I God, give this to princip.
Speaker 2: That is so fall for you.
Speaker 8: Yeah, of course.
Speaker 2: You know you can't believe anything it says. I don't
Speaker 2: believe nothing.
Speaker 4: Anybody good, ugger we got we got two marines with
Speaker 4: me today too.
Speaker 6: So Kennie Murphy, heygree what is happening?
Speaker 1: We're trying to get her squirrel stuff ready.
Speaker 2: I don't this fella needs no introduction.
Speaker 1: He is an absolute whirlwind of small game killery. Name it,
Speaker 1: he hunts it, squirrels, rabbits, whatever. What are y'all cooking today, Kevin?
Speaker 9: We are cooking.
Speaker 7: We've got rabbit gumbowl for the crowd to have, and
Speaker 7: we have dirty rice.
Speaker 9: Squirrel Vinnet's pepper jelly mayo.
Speaker 7: And we have squirrel gumbow. Is that right, Jeff?
Speaker 9: For the judges?
Speaker 2: Oh very nice? Now whose recipes.
Speaker 1: Is mister chef?
Speaker 2: Jeff Chef Jeff. Now are they from Kentucky too?
Speaker 7: He's from all over.
Speaker 1: He's obviously wanted by the law somewhere, so we're not
Speaker 1: gonna narrow down where he's from.
Speaker 2: Both of these boys are from all over.
Speaker 4: I'm not gonna tell you where they.
Speaker 9: But we know where they're at.
Speaker 1: And that's the World Championship Squirrel cook Off.
Speaker 2: Now did they did they compete last year?
Speaker 4: Chef Jeff was the one man show last year, and
Speaker 4: so we brought some kitchen help. I'm just an ornament.
Speaker 2: I got you.
Speaker 1: One thing I noticed right off when I've seen Kevin
Speaker 1: over here is that today he's wearing shoes.
Speaker 2: How long is that gonna last? Well till it lasts.
Speaker 1: That's awesome, man. We'll save us some gumbo. We want
Speaker 1: to try something you start then, all right, brother, thank you.
Speaker 1: What's the name of y'all's team.
Speaker 10: Grand Prayer Grillers?
Speaker 2: What's your name?
Speaker 5: Nick?
Speaker 6: Nick?
Speaker 2: Law, Nick, and Matt? Where y'all from Central Organs? Okay?
Speaker 1: All right, our in prairie, sir and pray?
Speaker 2: All right, we're talking about squirrels now, but it won't
Speaker 2: be long. Y'all be thinking about ducks right a little
Speaker 2: bit first.
Speaker 10: Yeah, all right, your equal opportunity.
Speaker 2: Equal opportunity, y'all like you. If it's in the woods,
Speaker 2: we'll try to you. That's all right. Tell me, uh,
Speaker 2: is this y'all's first competition? We came here last year
Speaker 2: the first time, got nine.
Speaker 1: The nice yeah, yep, nice, okay, ninth place, that's pretty spoiled.
Speaker 2: Yeah, tell me what you cook today? We got like
Speaker 2: a deep fried.
Speaker 10: Squirrel burrito and crowning savi. It's the side squirrel chips
Speaker 10: on the side, Yeah, squirrel tilla chips.
Speaker 1: Spottilla chips.
Speaker 2: Is this your first competent or the second competition?
Speaker 10: Yes, sir, we did we did last year, right, Yeah,
Speaker 10: scrappy sabch crappy Savicia.
Speaker 2: It's been frozen parrisise ago. You're good to go. All right,
Speaker 2: I love it. Let's go over and see what y'all doing. Now,
Speaker 2: you all right, little in the wild game.
Speaker 10: Since the pot takes no prisoners, so you can make
Speaker 10: anything you cook, attendance.
Speaker 6: Youe in here.
Speaker 2: It's good stuff. So we're just browning these a little bit,
Speaker 2: and that's the pot.
Speaker 10: And then we're gonna pre shure to cook them and
Speaker 10: debone all the meat and then we'll make our taco
Speaker 10: burrito mixed from that.
Speaker 2: Man, that is absolutely I wish you could smell.
Speaker 1: You could smell what if that smells like right now,
Speaker 1: you'd be crawling.
Speaker 2: Through the all ingredients be prepared.
Speaker 1: We'll just flash for those burritos real quick. They won't
Speaker 1: they won't be in there. They're not gonna be drenched,
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're just as quick flash.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 10: So we're just browning these little bit with some onions
Speaker 10: and seasoning oil, and then we'll put them some plotles
Speaker 10: of broth in there and debone it make burritos.
Speaker 2: Did y'all come up with this this year? Or is
Speaker 2: this an old recipe? We did? Uh, we did those
Speaker 2: last year.
Speaker 10: We did a similar recipe last year, but we've uh,
Speaker 10: we've improved upon it since.
Speaker 2: He's for our kids. Yeah, that's how we got to.
Speaker 7: We do everything.
Speaker 1: Dear taco, squirrel, rabbit whatever.
Speaker 2: Now is this a secret recipe?
Speaker 10: Oh man, we'll share this with anybody, all right, tell
Speaker 10: me how you cook. We just we used some of
Speaker 10: Malcolm's spg the killer hogs on here, little old little onions.
Speaker 10: You can't mess up sorry that way, and then well, uh,
Speaker 10: it's we're gonna cook her down and pressure cook it
Speaker 10: and de bone it, and then we'll add a little
Speaker 10: more season than after that.
Speaker 2: All right, I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 1: Ring the dinner bell loud because I want to come
Speaker 1: back down.
Speaker 2: In a minute. So with it me.
Speaker 10: We're making our chips perfect, We're make a loose we'll
Speaker 10: figure out.
Speaker 2: I'm on, Matt, thank you. That's gonna be good. All
Speaker 2: right now? If I remember right, hear me? You guys
Speaker 2: were part of the team in the Warned the World
Speaker 2: Championship last.
Speaker 1: Year, Is that right?
Speaker 7: Yes, sir, I was with these guys behind me last year.
Speaker 7: We decided we break it up this year, trying to
Speaker 7: get first and second in the state of Kentucky.
Speaker 1: Somebody I talked to send me the recipe is that you.
Speaker 2: No, I wasn't here last year.
Speaker 9: This is my first time he invited me out this year.
Speaker 2: So all right, where are y'all from? Horny, Kentucky, Worthy Kentucky.
Speaker 6: Yees? Sir?
Speaker 2: Tell me about these squirrels.
Speaker 7: Here, Well, most of them are killed by my son.
Speaker 7: Them were killed by day his son, Little Eddie Squirrels
Speaker 7: Killer Simmons.
Speaker 2: He busted quite a few.
Speaker 1: Love of course, it's a recipe, a new recipe or
Speaker 1: something old that y'all had for river.
Speaker 2: Now, so we're gonna do it, just likely to have
Speaker 2: it go to my house.
Speaker 7: Fry up squirrel some ash tag squirrel gravy traditional.
Speaker 2: I like it. Well, nothing one you eat them? Yes, sir,
Speaker 2: that's a last job.
Speaker 1: Tell me about the recipe that y'all been using. That
Speaker 1: you've been using ad hole? Is this from you, grandpa?
Speaker 1: How you learned to do it when you were young
Speaker 1: or what? What's what's your history? Who's eating squirrels with cooking?
Speaker 7: Yeah, that's pretty much how we've always done it, Cry
Speaker 7: them up, have it a little gravy.
Speaker 1: Let's tell me what's your process of getting the perfair
Speaker 1: and in front?
Speaker 7: Well, for right now we're trying to pick sure and
Speaker 7: find the best little pieces of leg and everything like
Speaker 7: that for the judges. Try to get all the hair
Speaker 7: and shot off air with and and uh, I'm gonna
Speaker 7: seize them up and then uh, what's buttermilk on them
Speaker 7: and soak for a little while, put them bringing out
Speaker 7: and regiments of season flowers.
Speaker 2: Do it the old electric skilling, just like mom.
Speaker 1: Used to do. Ah, I got we all save us
Speaker 1: some Yes, sir, let me son back.
Speaker 2: We went back to eat the same Absolutely, we sure will.
Speaker 2: All right, thank you.
Speaker 1: Hey, we're here with the squirrel mafia.
Speaker 2: Is that right?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Buck snort, squirrel ma buck snort, the squirrel mafia. What
Speaker 2: are you cooking today, Curtis, I guess we can tell it.
Speaker 2: It's too late.
Speaker 9: Now we're cooking squirrel gumbo, and then we're also going
Speaker 9: to do squirrel boot and balls.
Speaker 2: Come on with it. Where are you boys from?
Speaker 9: Uh in northwest Arkansas? We're from uh Rogers Faetteville area.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you got this. You got the home field,
Speaker 2: advanced fields manage, got local squirrels, taste rights. Everybody tell
Speaker 2: me what this guy's doing back your line.
Speaker 9: He's prepping some of the you know, we get eighty
Speaker 9: percent squirrel, you can have twenty percent something else in
Speaker 9: that ought to be sausage.
Speaker 2: So well, it's gumbo. It's gotta bere. Can we come
Speaker 2: around there kind and see what's going on? Yeah?
Speaker 1: You can you see inside these pot walk me through
Speaker 1: the process.
Speaker 2: This is gonna come out after this to It's not
Speaker 2: a secret in this life. No, it's not a secret.
Speaker 2: It's a regular gumbo.
Speaker 9: We're gonna start with a butter and make a roof,
Speaker 9: and then we've got all fresh vegetables, you know, all
Speaker 9: the trinity everything that goes in and yep and uh
Speaker 9: and uh, and then we've got squirrel. We're gonna pressure
Speaker 9: cook in and uh and then prep and then add
Speaker 9: to once we get the roo established and get our
Speaker 9: vesions done.
Speaker 1: So is this a recipe that y'all came up for
Speaker 1: this or is this what you've been cooking forever?
Speaker 2: It's just it's just what you cook.
Speaker 9: Yeah, when you make gumbo, it's not really a recipe.
Speaker 9: Cook it in the path.
Speaker 2: So, man, it's a and gumbo. I always tell people.
Speaker 2: They say, what you put in the gumbo?
Speaker 10: And I said, whatever I got in my eyespots.
Speaker 9: Whatever's left over. Yeah, it's whatever we got. Well, so
Speaker 9: we're serving. We're making a big batch for the crowd too.
Speaker 9: So it's gonna have squirrel chicken sausage, you know, whole
Speaker 9: whole deal.
Speaker 1: All right, I'm gonna ask you the same thing we've
Speaker 1: been asking everybody else.
Speaker 2: Y'all put us some back so we can come back
Speaker 2: and have it sounthing.
Speaker 6: Oh yeah you bet, yeah you heard it here, folks, Thank.
Speaker 2: For that homemade ribulogue that I make too. So yeah,
Speaker 2: how long you've been making that? I don't know, thirty years.
Speaker 2: We all have the King's work out.
Speaker 1: I got the Kings work out, all right, good deal,
Speaker 1: squirrel buck, but snore.
Speaker 2: And squirrel I like. And then comes squirrel Camp this year.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely, yeah, squirrel Camp cut that part out.
Speaker 2: But we don't want nobody else, say Curtis, I've been.
Speaker 3: Doing this a while, right, yes, yes, uh, I think
Speaker 3: we started cooking in this after we met Joe Wilson,
Speaker 3: maybe the third or fourth year that he been having.
Speaker 2: This opposition, and uh, we cook.
Speaker 9: In it every year since that. What the whole life started?
Speaker 9: About the World Championship.
Speaker 2: I knew about to lie.
Speaker 9: I was not into the first one and when we
Speaker 9: lied on national television.
Speaker 2: But I jumped in after that because I liked the life.
Speaker 2: That's awesome. I can't make a lie, I'm true. We
Speaker 2: had to make Joe Wilson legiting it again. You know,
Speaker 2: that's good.
Speaker 1: We'll be back.
Speaker 2: That's good. That's good. That's gonna be real dark before
Speaker 2: you get right. Yeah, this is gonna take about thirty
Speaker 2: minutes to get this right. Tell me what I'm meaning
Speaker 2: here man.
Speaker 7: All right, that's a squirrel gumbo.
Speaker 2: Uh, you know, rabbit gumbo for you know forever, buddy.
Speaker 2: Try uh dirty rice with mercy livers, a little bit
Speaker 2: of homemade hot sauce.
Speaker 3: Uh, some scallions sliced up nice that way they curl and.
Speaker 2: Get a little extra pop. Ho leak out. This is good?
Speaker 5: Good?
Speaker 2: Why'd you like it?
Speaker 1: I've been on a cave man died for about four weeks.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I'm on leave here like i've been on a
Speaker 9: fat man.
Speaker 7: That you should.
Speaker 2: This is good. Yeah, this is a really good Thank
Speaker 2: you so much, sir, Yes, sir.
Speaker 1: Yeah, curly, sir, tell me about what this is here.
Speaker 1: I know it's left over and then there's not a
Speaker 1: whole lot left good.
Speaker 8: So I have candy bacon that I made with my
Speaker 8: smoked sugar maple tubernano smoked grass sugar and then spicy
Speaker 8: squirrel and acolate chips.
Speaker 5: In the cookie.
Speaker 2: Spicy squirrel and chocolate chips.
Speaker 8: Yes, sir, you gotta have some bacon.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, you always gotta have a break to have bacon.
Speaker 2: If I could get that lid, I would smoke it,
Speaker 2: that is absolutely so.
Speaker 8: I make the smoke sugar by hand process that I
Speaker 8: could smoke it for twenty four hours.
Speaker 2: Okay, you keep dogging. I'm gonna keep eating.
Speaker 5: You can keep eating.
Speaker 8: I have seven flavors of salt, cherrywood.
Speaker 5: Hickory, apple wood, mesquite, pecan, oak, and whiskey barrel. I
Speaker 5: have a maple turbern on, a smoked raw sugar, yeah,
Speaker 5: a bourbon barrels smoked Corse grown pepper which I actually
Speaker 5: used on the bacon, and a trio which is a
Speaker 5: fine salt pepper and garlic glint.
Speaker 1: Awesome.
Speaker 2: This is awesome, man. What's your prize? The How long
Speaker 2: is you're taking to cook this bacon, y'all? Guess you're
Speaker 2: slow cooking it over.
Speaker 8: I put it on the grill.
Speaker 2: Okay, what tim whatever? Five hundred degrees?
Speaker 8: I can't tell you.
Speaker 2: I have no idea.
Speaker 8: I just cooked on the grill. Okay, everything was cooked
Speaker 8: on the grill.
Speaker 2: This is absolutely wonderful. I appreciate y'all being here.
Speaker 1: Y'all, well, when you came in twenty fourth and it's
Speaker 1: the absolute best position to be in because you get
Speaker 1: a truck load of goodies.
Speaker 2: Joe Wilson and them.
Speaker 1: This is the absolutely the greatest thing ever appreciate y'all.
Speaker 8: This is so much fun.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you, thank you for Branny Sez. Yes, Bailey,
Speaker 1: you ready for some bacon?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Joe was here.
Speaker 10: I'm sorry about Joe.
Speaker 1: Joe wasn't here when when the bacon was here? So
Speaker 1: Joe's Joe's and like a shark feeding the friends, you
Speaker 1: over here