How to prepare and cook Rabbit.

[swampy99]

Interesting.
Only cooked Rabbit once which I got from the butcher and just put it in slow cooker in salted water for 6 hours and it was vile. Now I know where I’m going wrong I need to soak over night then boil several times. D’Oh!

Seems a lot of hassle for such little amount of meat?

Well you could cook it with hot rocks throw away the rabbit and eat the rocks. Should taste better. Thats what we do with the bush turkeys out here. LOL

[awarner]

Digging up an old topic rather than create a new one to discuss all over again.

I prefer the meat to be as fresh as possible, apart from a very quick wash it's normally skin and in the pot. I would never soak it for hours on end, cook it properly and away you go.
Pressure cooker is my normal preferred method but tempted to do a stir fry paella type stir fry at my next camp with the scouts.
I generally try to use a simple gravy/stock with virtually no herbs etc just to let the meat speak for itself, I find that too often in food that adding wine, herbs etc mask the true flavour.

[Colin.W]

I didnt get the chance to taste mine, I went out with a friend shooting when I came home I dropped the rabbit by the path in the back garden to urgently answer the call of nature, in the mean time my wife let the dog out and she must have thought it was her birthday. by the time I realised what was happening cut my business short and ran downstairs there wasn't enough rabbit left to make a rabbits foot keyring

[320ccc]

you can make it as hard or as simple as you want.

to my palate a rabbit is the only thing that actually tastes like chicken (though rattlesnake tastes like chicken-flavored art gum eraser).

any recipe you have for chicken will work for rabbit.

breaded and panfried is my favorite.

or braise it in oil with garlic, whatever spices you like and serve with pasta.

rabbit parmesan is simple and easy.

dumplings and rabbit stew.

the real trick to most small game is cleaning it as soon as you can.
the warmer the temp outside the sooner you should clean it.
since it's tender and not "gamey" don't bother aging (hanging) it.
if you aren't going to eat immediately, rinse any hair or dirt off, pat the carcass dry, cover it and stick it in the refrigerator or freezer, it will taste better.

a lot of the recipes for rabbit stem from eating spoiled meat (i think). hassenpfeffer for instance. it's good but why cover up the mild rabbit flavor unless it wasn't.

our season for bunnies doesn't start until autumn and conventional wisdom says wait for the first frost. supposedly to prevent picking up rabbit fever.
i wait until it's good and cold because i don't like fleas, ticks and spoiled meat.

as i understand it some of you in the uk run sighthounds and lurchers against rabbits. our greyhound and wolfhound wouild go stark raving nuts chasing bunnies but they just broke the critters' necks. almost as cleanly as shooting them. my terrier however would shred the poor guys if she cornered them before i could pop them.

like any animal if the innards are damaged too badly before or during butchering the meat is going to taste bad. the only thing you can do then is the brine soak or even milk works. rinse it well and use a pretty aggressive spicy recipe, mexican, indian or even thai. something hot and strong.

that's about all i know about cooking bunnies.

addendum: the rabbits we take locally are cottontails. they eat grass and the vegetables in my garden.
a couple hundred miles west of here you get jackrabbits as well. they eat sage and bushes, etc.
their flavor is very strong. for them i just skip right to the spicy recipes. the meat is stringier. some
folks pressure cook it, i just braise some good flavor into it, then cook it on low until it's tender.

[JoshS]

320cc is right, gut them quick.

The other good advice I read in "Countryman's Cooking" by W.M.W. Fowler is when you joint it remove the pelvis, as this is where the strange rabbit taste comes from. After removing back legs slice down close to the pelvis bone from the saddle on each side, then twist off. BTW that book is hilarious and I would highly recommend it to anybody, just read the reviews on Amazon.

[ReamviThantos]

Onions, carrot and a splash of updock.

[Bushwhacker]

320cc is right, gut them quick.

The other good advice I read in "Countryman's Cooking" by W.M.W. Fowler is when you joint it remove the pelvis, as this is where the strange rabbit taste comes from. After removing back legs slice down close to the pelvis bone from the saddle on each side, then twist off. BTW that book is hilarious and I would highly recommend it to anybody, just read the reviews on Amazon.

It's the anal glands in the pelvis area that you want to remove.

[jacko1066]

Sorry guys but Im a bit confused, would love to try rabbit, but do you soak it or not? I fear this is another marmite jobby lol
Cheers
Steve

[Teepee]

..... I fear this is another marmite jobby lol
Cheers
Steve

That sounds messy!

[Bushwhacker]

Sorry guys but Im a bit confused, would love to try rabbit, but do you soak it or not? I fear this is another marmite jobby lol
Cheers
Steve

You don't have to soak it. You just need to try different methods and see which one works for you.

[jacko1066]

That sounds messy!

Thanks, I was enjoying that coffee till I read your input lmao!!

[NetFrog]

There are a million and one ways of cooking a rabbit. When I was a kid we used to gut, skin and BBQ straight up and I loved it. The livers are perfectly palatable too, just check for spots as this can be a sign of disease. Stews, braised, BBQ etc. It is meat and can be cooked like all meats and is probably one of my favourite foods. As for soaking, the need for this is only if you want to follow a particular recipie, it is NOT a requirement.

[armie]

Onions, carrot and a splash of updock.

I believe the appropriate response to this would be abbreviated "o.t.i.o."

[jacko1066]

There are a million and one ways of cooking a rabbit. When I was a kid we used to gut, skin and BBQ straight up and I loved it. The livers are perfectly palatable too, just check for spots as this can be a sign of disease. Stews, braised, BBQ etc. It is meat and can be cooked like all meats and is probably one of my favourite foods. As for soaking, the need for this is only if you want to follow a particular recipie, it is NOT a requirement.

I see exactly what your saying mate, I got told the other day that if its butcher bought you cant be 100% that the bladder had been drained (im assuming if you dont it taints the meat) then boiling it is best then using the meat for pies etc, but if its very fresh and you can drain it yourself then you dont need to boil it. Does that sound about right/ or am I talking complete tosh lol?
My own view, and im certainly no expert, surly its like any other meat in that how it tastes depend on how its cooked/what its cooked with? Even if its just bbq then it will take on a smoky flavour!!
For me the idea of boiled rabbit doesnt sound too nice!! But then again Iv never tried it!!
Cheers
Steve

[Grendel]

Slow boiled rabbit in salt water is the only way i have tried it myself and it was rank. So i'm interested in the responsed of how to cook it better since if i ever get around to bunny hunting i'll need some idea of how to use the meat.

On another note i presume you can dry it and make rabbit jerky???

[ReamviThantos]

I believe the appropriate response to this would be abbreviated "o.t.i.o."

o.t.i.o you got me back !?

[ReamviThantos]

Obvious troll is obvious!? It was called humour, pretty poor humour granted... but

[NetFrog]

I see exactly what your saying mate, I got told the other day that if its butcher bought you cant be 100% that the bladder had been drained (im assuming if you dont it taints the meat) then boiling it is best then using the meat for pies etc, but if its very fresh and you can drain it yourself then you dont need to boil it. Does that sound about right/ or am I talking complete tosh lol?
My own view, and im certainly no expert, surly its like any other meat in that how it tastes depend on how its cooked/what its cooked with? Even if its just bbq then it will take on a smoky flavour!!
For me the idea of boiled rabbit doesnt sound too nice!! But then again Iv never tried it!!
Cheers
Steve

I trust my local butchers here and a bit of Rabbit pee aint going to do you too much harm once washed and cooked :-D However the gall bladder is located within the liver and contains concentrated bile which is fairly nasty stuff, if that bursts then yeargh.

As for boiling, yeah boiled wabbit doesn't sound too appetising, roast, stewed or BBQ wabbit is looovery though!

[jacko1066]

Slow boiled rabbit in salt water is the only way i have tried it myself and it was rank. So i'm interested in the responsed of how to cook it better since if i ever get around to bunny hunting i'll need some idea of how to use the meat.

On another note i presume you can dry it and make rabbit jerky???

Thats exactly my interest mate!!! Im tring to get back into shooting, although Iv dispatched my fair share for some reason Iv never actually tried them!!
But this time Im going to fill my boots lol

[armie]

Obvious troll is obvious!? It was called humour, pretty poor humour granted... but

I know I know, it made me laugh... just wanted to show I'm totally into today's young folks' modern lingo