The Tennessee Squirrel Cooker

The Tennessee squirrel cooker is a very handy little cooking devise that I always carry with my trail gear.  It only weighs a few ounces and takes up hardly any space.  I stick mine in under the cords holding my bedroll closed, and I never even know it’s there until it’s time to cook dinner. Pictured below: top, Tennessee squirrel cooker tucked under bedroll straps; bottom, squirrel cooker in hand

It may be called a squirrel cooker, but you can use it to cook a portion or two of just about any kind of meat. I’ve cooked squirrel, rabbit, beef, chicken, fish, hotdogs, and sausage to name a few.  I’ve also been know to stick an ear of corn on it to roast.  Pictured below: top, chicken breast cooking on the squirrel cooker; bottom, how squirrel cooker fits together

A friend of mine who is a blacksmith made my squirrel cooker, but you can buy them at mountainman rendezvous or order them on the internet (Woodenhawk Trading Company at woodenhawk.com has them for $15.00 US).

I actually added another piece to my squirrel cooker so that I can use it like a set of miniature fire irons.  This is real handy for suspending my small cook pot over the fire.  Pictured below:  Squirrel cooker with extra piece used as miniature fire-irons

A squirrel cooker won’t do much good if you are cooking dinner for a crowd, but if it’s just you, or you and a partner, the squirrel cooker will do the job.