Cooking rabbit

BrownTrout

Just shot my first 2 rabbits this evening.

I have the head, legs, skin, guts and organs removed so I'm just left with the main carcass.

Where do I go from here in relation to preparing the meat? Any quick and tasty recipes?

Edit: I also have the whole skins with the heads attached. What's the best way to preserve it? I hope to use the fur for fly tying. Any other uses?

cookimonster

When you say legs, do you mean the frount legs only as the hind legs have largest proportion of meat compared to any part of the body.

If the rabbits are only a day dead I would leave them in the refrigerator for at least three days to allow them to tenderise.

There's a million recipes for rabbit but remember rabbit contains very little fat and drys out quickly especially cooking for long periods in dry heat conditions- roasting, grilling etc.

Down and dirty stew- simmer rabbit in pot of water for 1/2 hours add potatoes carrots onions etc and cook out, thicken with a packet of vegetable soup.

Baked Rabbit: chop up a hand full of vegetables and lay onto a double layer of tinfoil season rabitt and rap in smoked streaky bacon, place on vegetables, add tablespoon of butter, wrap up tin foil parcel. Cook at 180c for 1/2 hr , then 150c for 1/2 hr , may takelonger dependent on rabbit

Southern Fried Rabbit: cutting rabbit into sections, legs, saddle, rib section, marinate in buttermilk for a day. Season some flour with white pepper, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, dried thyme and a pinch of mace. Drain rabbit pieces, dip into flour then buttermilk then flour. Cook in medium heat deep fat fryer until golden or juices run clear.

I've salt rabbit skins before they last ok but they come out brittle

BrownTrout

cookimonster wrote: »

When you say legs, do you mean the frount legs only as the hind legs have largest proportion of meat compared to any part of the body.

If the rabbits are only a day dead I would leave them in the refrigerator for at least three days to allow them to tenderise.

There's a million recipes for rabbit but remember rabbit contains very little fat and drys out quickly especially cooking for long periods in dry heat conditions- roasting, grilling etc.

Down and dirty stew- simmer rabbit in pot of water for 1/2 hours add potatoes carrots onions etc and cook out, thicken with a packet of vegetable soup.

Baked Rabbit: chop up a hand full of vegetables and lay onto a double layer of tinfoil season rabitt and rap in smoked streaky bacon, place on vegetables, add tablespoon of butter, wrap up tin foil parcel. Cook at 180c for 1/2 hr , then 150c for 1/2 hr , may takelonger dependent on rabbit

Southern Fried Rabbit: cutting rabbit into sections, legs, saddle, rib section, marinate in buttermilk for a day. Season some flour with white pepper, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, dried thyme and a pinch of mace. Drain rabbit pieces, dip into flour then buttermilk then flour. Cook in medium heat deep fat fryer until golden or juices run clear.

I've salt rabbit skins before they last ok but they come out brittle

thanks, by legs i mean the feet.

when your doing your stew, do you just place the whole rabbit into the pot?

Cass

There are loads of recipes for rabbit in our game recipe thread.

synesthesia

when your doing your stew, do you just place the whole rabbit into the pot? --> Cut it a bit

I love rabbit. check receipes for "Civet de lapin" : http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Rabbit-Stew-with-Red-Wine

rosted is great too - don't forget the rosemary.

otherwise, check le "lapin a la moutarde" : http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Rabbit-Cooked-with-Dijon-Mustard

quick easy and delicious.

extremetaz

cookimonster wrote: »

Down and dirty stew- simmer rabbit in pot of water for 1/2 hours...

4 hours would be more appropriate for a wild rabbit - you'd only get away with 2 hours for a farmed animal

cookimonster wrote: »

Baked Rabbit: Cook at 180c for 1/2 hr , then 150c for 1/2 hr , may takelonger dependent on rabbit

2 hours & 3 hours again for the wild animal

cookimonster wrote: »

Southern Fried Rabbit: cutting rabbit into sections, legs, saddle, rib section, marinate in buttermilk for a day. Season some flour with white pepper, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, dried thyme and a pinch of mace. Drain rabbit pieces, dip into flour then buttermilk then flour. Cook in medium heat deep fat fryer until golden or juices run clear.

This just neutralises the taste of the meat - rabbits don't carry much water in them so the meat can taste quite strong on account of residual urea in the bloodstream. The soaking draws out the blood from the meat. Accordingly its generally advised to do this in all instances, so not just for this recipe - also salt water is supposedly more effective than milk, although I've only ever used salt water myself so I'm not in a position to confirm that point.

cookimonster wrote: »

I've salt rabbit skins before they last ok but they come out brittle

That's my experience too, although my mother informs me that if you block down the salted side and then use a thin oil such as linseed oil or similar saddelry treatement oils that it will actually condition quite well - this based on knowledged gleaned from my grandmothers time it seems.

I've not tried it yet but feel free to give it a go and report back. ;-)

cookimonster

BrownTrout wrote: »

........when your doing your stew, do you just place the whole rabbit into the pot?

I would normally quarter the rabbit or at least two hind legs, saddle and leave the frount half intact for all my wet dishes.

If your handy with knives try boning out hind legs and saddles for stir fry and sauteed dishes. Rabbit flesh is soft and will mince easy by hand to make sausage and burger pattes but you need to use some bacon and breadcrumbs in the mix to keep them moist

cookimonster

I generally chill all my wild rabbits for at least 5 days before cooking or it has been frozen previously. This seems to add a better degree of tenderness to the meat.

Some people, not all, boil meat which can actually toughen the meat which is not normally seen as the meat is then overcooked until it falls apart

The use of soaking in a brine solution is quite right and I completely forgot to mention this, this process is used quite a lot on white meats or red meats that may be cooked in either a clear or white cooking liquid.

The use of buttermilk in this case, although it will draw out blood, is primarily for tenderising as the lactic acid found in buttermilk acts on the connective tissues as well as adding a degree of moistness to the over all eating experience. This is the western version of marinating chicken in yogurt for tandoori cooking

retro d

i clean them in salted water i debone them which is a bit of work but it's worth it then i soak em for 24 hours in buttermilk in fridge , then I mince them up , then flatten them out into burger shape few herbs and spices some flour then shallow fry em and there not dry at all as long as you don't overcook them , or mince the rabbit with smokey rashers or sausages as cookimonster says the fat from the bacon keeps it moist , bunny bacon burgers , good luck to ya my mouth is watering here ,

lawred2

BrownTrout wrote: »

Just shot my first 2 rabbits this evening.

I have the head, legs, skin, guts and organs removed so I'm just left with the main carcass.

Where do I go from here in relation to preparing the meat? Any quick and tasty recipes?

Edit: I also have the whole skins with the heads attached. What's the best way to preserve it? I hope to use the fur for fly tying. Any other uses?

do you have to pick the shot out of the poor fellas first?

lawred2

retro d wrote: »

i clean them in salted water i debone them which is a bit of work but it's worth it then i soak em for 24 hours in buttermilk in fridge , then I mince them up , then flatten them out into burger shape few herbs and spices some flour then shallow fry em and there not dry at all as long as you don't overcook them , or mince the rabbit with smokey rashers or sausages as cookimonster says the fat from the bacon keeps it moist , bunny bacon burgers , good luck to ya my mouth is watering here ,

that sounds lovely

BrownTrout

lawred2 wrote: »

do you have to pick the shot out of the poor fellas first?

Shot seems to have flattened out well and not penetrated the inner layers of skin. Both rabbits took about 4 or 5 pieces of shot each but it all seems to have stayed in the skin. Meat looks absolutely ok.

I think it was the impact/ smack from the pellets that killed them as opposed to the pellets hitting organs.

Maybe someone who knows a bit more about shotgun ballistics can clarify?

retro d

Ingredients for shallow frying was too lazy to explain earlier Sorry
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp ground sage
1/2 tsp ground sage
1/8 tsp baking powder
1/2 garlic powder
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp Rosemary
1/2 tsp paprika
2 cups of flour
Remove rabbit from buttermilk and pat dry
Mix these dry ingredients in a bag with your rabbit pieces so they are well coated evenly onto a frying pan with some oil , washed down with a sweet mug of Tay or a cold bottle of stout ,

cookimonster

If there isn't major blood loss internal or external, destruction of heart or lungs or brain trauma then its likely the rabbit died from something else. Broken bones or severed spinal column will anchor a rabbit on the spot but usually requires a finishing blow.

On closer inspection you may find a single pellet clipping the heart cause a decrease in blood pressure or brain trauma causing instant death or paralysis leading to death. But it would be rare for a rabbit to die from shot that didn't penetrate the flesh. You will often find one pellet pass through the internal cavity of a pigeon causing massive internal bleeding other times a bird will have no shot in the body and be stone dead these cases IMO are head shot.

tikkahunter

retro d wrote: »

Ingredients for shallow frying was too lazy to explain earlier Sorry
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp ground sage
1/2 tsp ground sage
1/8 tsp baking powder
1/2 garlic powder
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp Rosemary
1/2 tsp paprika
2 cups of flour
Remove rabbit from buttermilk and pat dry
Mix these dry ingredients in a bag with your rabbit pieces so they are well coated evenly onto a frying pan with some oil , washed down with a sweet mug of Tay or a cold bottle of stout ,

I love the rabbit done like this with a batch heel and a large bottle of Guinness.

tikkahunter

2 rabbits sliced
2 x eggs
Smash (the dried potato stuff)
1 x green pepper, sliced
1 x onion, sliced
1 x chilli, sliced
1 x tsp coarse sea salt

How to make it

Pour some smash onto a plate and add the teaspoon of sea salt to it – mix it through!
Take your strips of rabbit and dip it in a bowl of beaten eggs, before rolling it in the smash mixture – repeat until all the rabbit is coated.
Cook the rabbit at 200° for about 20 minutes or until you think it has cooked through.
While the rabbit is cooking, stir fry (using fry light) the green peppers, onion and chillies.
When the rabbit is ready, add it to the pan to combine it with the vegetables.
Serve with rice or noodles and devour.

P.S this is a slimming world recipe originally for chicken , and is fat free so your birds can eat it without moaning.

WearstheFoxhat

Jesus Christ, you sans are making me hungry, haven't had rabbit in a while, lovely stuff