Flavor

[Cyngbaeld]

We had a culled doe for supper last night. She was about 3 yrs old. I thought the meat was reasonably tender, but bland. This is the first domestic rabbit I've eaten, BTW. She was a Californian, are there any domestic rabbits with more flavor? (Didn't taste like chicken, didn't really taste like anything.)

[ladysown]

how did you make it?

[backachersfarm]

What did you season it with? Tame rabbit is more like white meat on chicken. I find it to be tasteless. I usually cook older rabbits esp in a crockpot with some salt and an onion. Comes out very tender and flavorful.

Sharon

[Otter]

In my experience, rabbit is a very light, delicate flavor. You will lose the flavor of rabbit entirely if you use the same amount of seasonings you are used to using with poultry. Also, we are used to the flavor being in the fat of meat, but rabbit really has no fat, so if your mouth is looking for that "rich" flavor, you won't find it. But because of that, rabbit take to sweet sauces better then chicken (in my opinion).

I have heard that Rex has a finer texture and slightly stronger flavor then other breeds - but every rabbit I ever ate was a Rex or Rex cross, so I have nothing else to compare it to. But you might try a Rex and see if it's more to your liking.

But I think it's mostly in the cooking. Not as much seasoning as if you were doing poultry and lard is the fat of choice to add to rabbit if you need a little fat in the recipe.

Try this (one of the few things I miss about living south, though I don't know if it's as easy to get in Tx as in Fl)
Get a fresh mango and cube about a half of a cup of mango, add a half of a cup cubed fresh or canned pineapple. If you use the canned, it may end up too sweet, but then, some like to add sugar to the fresh, so it's to your taste. But I'd start with fresh and if it's too "tangy" a flavor, add a little sugar and next time try canned.
Put the fruit into a small pan with enough water to just cover it and simmer it down for about five minutes till the fruit is getting soft. Then you can either add your stir-fry cut rabbit to the pan, cover and simmer till the rabbit's white all the way through OR, take your quartered rabbit and wrap it in tin foil, before you close up the tin foil, add your pineapple-mango sauce to it (you'll want the sauce a little more watery if you cook this way - but just a little) and put it into the pre-heated oven at 300 for 12 to 15 minutes until the rabbit is cooked. Small rabbits will cook pretty quick, larger ones you may want to pre-cook a little before adding the sauce so the sauce doesn't burn.
Either way, serve it over long-grain rice. Yum!! You can use the same recipe for any white-fleshed fish or poultry, but rabbit comes out best.
Hope you enjoy your next rabbit more!!

[menagerie momma]

What Sharon said. I generally make stew with our rabbits, all the seasonings and veggies lend their flavor to the rabbit and make for a good all round dish that the kids will gobble down. I imagine if I wanted more flavorful rabbit, I would try a curry, but my kids hate that, so I miss out. (Imagine them hating curry, but eating chili?! eh. Kids!)

Jessie

[menagerie momma]

Rose, I wish my kids were as adventurous as yours! DD is more willing than the younger two, but she is 12 and they are under 4. I have never met such picky eaters. I don't know how it happened, either. We have a pretty varied diet and they ate a lot of different things as babies. *sigh* I have gone somewhat militant and told them if they don't eat it, there will be nothing else, so they eat, but not much and they look like they're dying the whole time!

Jessie

[Pony]

Mmm.... curried rabbit! Hadn't thought to try that, but I will add that one to the Rabbit Repitoire!

[Cyngbaeld]

I cooked it with parboiled rice, green onions, coconut oil, salt, pepper. Browned the meat in the oil then fricasseed it with the rice. Finally dumped tomato powder on it because it didn't taste like anything particular.

I raise a lot of game chickens and the breasts are red, not white and have lots of flavor. I was a bit disappointed in the rabbit.

Don't like curry, but I might try some tahini next time. It 'll be several months before I have any to eat again. My popples are just starting to get their eyes open and I'll probably save most for breeding out of the first couple of litters.

Maybe somebody needs to work on rabbits with good meat flavor.

[Jennifer L.]

I did in a batch of rabbits a couple of weeks ago, and there were quite a few older does in the bunch that hadn't been bred in awhile. So there was a lot of rendered fat. Probably got 3 cups from the 15 I did (only two or three fryers in there). The fat is essentially tasteless, IMO, which kind of goes along with the meat. I mean, there's flavour there, but it's not strong.

In any case, I found out a long time ago the best eating rabbit is one that's been brined over night. I generally just use a salt water brine, but you can put in garlic, etc, to dress it up.

Jennifer

[stranger]

brine it over night in any brine you like and smoke it on a grill or anything you have to make smoke. we do them in a home made smoker. great flavor

[trinityoaks]

Originally Posted by Cyngbaeld

I cooked it with parboiled rice, green onions, coconut oil, salt, pepper.

Hmmm. . . I'm wondering whether the coconut oil overpowered the rabbit?

[o&itw]

.

I ate wild rabbit for years before eating any tame rabbit. I love cottontail in heavily seasoned stews and hausenpeffer. Tame rabbit, especially tame rabbit raised with pellet has a very mild flavor, which does not contribute near as well to stews, etc.

Unless you find it unhealthy to do so, I suggest that you fry it in a minimal amount of oil...no batter, no flour, just salt and pepper. After it is browned, continue frying it with a lid untill it is done. This is easiest and most satifying way to experience its flavor.

[denaliguide]

put the first portion of it stir fry without strong flavorings and came up with a bit tougher than we liked but satisfying meat in the fry. Light flavor, surely
nothing strong, but it was there. I have been feeding a barely mix trying to get some better flavor, and I am finishing some fryers on a 50% barley mix, so when we butcher this week, by the end of the week, I might have a an experience or two to share.

From my Point of View, this is a good outcome so far, as the meat fits our current lifestyle nicely.

Love that recipes page !!

DG

Originally Posted by Cyngbaeld

We had a culled doe for supper last night. She was about 3 yrs old. I thought the meat was reasonably tender, but bland. This is the first domestic rabbit I've eaten, BTW. She was a Californian, are there any domestic rabbits with more flavor? (Didn't taste like chicken, didn't really taste like anything.)

[bowbuild]

I feed a heavy portion of whole oats to the kits right up to butcher time, it seems to have a better flavor to me that way. It can take some time for them to adjust to the oats, but it is worth it!

Bowbuild

[bricned]

I have found the San Juans have the best flavor. I have found the following is a good
way to prepare any breed. Marinade overnight in soy sauce seasoned with
salt, pepper,& garlic. Place in a roster pan on a rack over water, cover the
rabbit with thin slices oranges, then cover slices of oranges with slices of onions. Cover and bake on low heat until tender. You can squeeze orange
juice on the rabbit instead of slices if you like.

[Cyngbaeld]

o&itw, I'd only ever eaten wild rabbit and liked that too.

I'll try some of the other suggestions when I have some more buns.

This doe had a lot of fat on her too, but I didn't think it contributed anything to the flavor.

I think we will be eating goose tonight. Now THAT has some taste to it! Maybe next time we have rabbit I'll grind some up with some goose meat and see how that tastes.

[trinityoaks]

Originally Posted by Cyngbaeld

I think we will be eating goose tonight.

Are you planning to keep the goose feathers/down?

[Cyngbaeld]

Yes, I like to save the feathers and down.

[o&itw]

Originally Posted by Cyngbaeld

o&itw, I'd only ever eaten wild rabbit and liked that too.

I'll try some of the other suggestions when I have some more buns.

This doe had a lot of fat on her too, but I didn't think it contributed anything to the flavor.

I think we will be eating goose tonight. Now THAT has some taste to it! Maybe next time we have rabbit I'll grind some up with some goose meat and see how that tastes.

Snow geese? I heard they were not much for flavor, but i have never had anything but domestic and Canadians. Tame rabbit does not have much fat in the meat... I don't think wild geese do either (I always stuffed them with sausage dressing when I baked them) There are lots of ways to fix rabbit, but we end up frying it in a teflon skillet with just a dab of oil. salt, and pepper. It is about the only thing we fry anymore. That way the flavor really comes out. If you cook an older larger rabbit, the back legs get almost
like a large chicken breast. Any way you would cook chicken breasts would probably work.

Enjoy...

I miss the hausenpeffer.. but with all the fescue around the midwest these days, and all the cyotes, there are not near the number of cottontails that there used to be.

[trinityoaks]

Originally Posted by Cyngbaeld

Yes, I like to save the feathers and down.

Darn! I guess I'll have to get my own geese eventually. I still have a couple of goose down pillows my grandmother's family brought with them from the "old country" in the '20s. I've lost some of the feathers (used to pull them out as a kid, before I knew better). I *love* those pillows, as well as my (storebought) down comforter. Eventually I want to have a feather bed, as well.