I'll have to tell you that I have been a little disappointed in the rabbit dishes I've tried since I restarted this little enterprise. The recipes I've tried have been mostly bummers with a couple of real successes. Wife says the successes are too few and the flops too frequent. Rabbit fried just like skinless chicken is not bad, but a little dry for my taste. Rabbit and dumpling is an outstanding success. I boil the rabbit with salt and pepper, add chicken buillon cubes. Save the broth, take meat off bones and make dumplings. I add the meat back to the pot though my wife prefers to add it to the bowl. Using my dumpling recipe the broth remains almost clear, more like chicken and noodles. If the dumplings do not get light and fluffy you have done something wrong--I use only water, salt, flour and baking powder. Rabbit in the crock pot with bbq sauce flopped here. Edible but not a winner. Still have to try rabbit in the crock pot with mushroom soup. A gold star winner was a recipe I found in one of my game cook recipe books. Fry sliced onions in butter until clear (a large onion to a rabbit is about right). Take onion out of pan, salt and pepper rabbit and brown well, then simmer about l5 minutes in butter in the pan, adding butter if needed. Add back the cooked onion, turn heat to low and cook until rabbit is fork tender. If you have any outstanding recipes, please share. If I cannot persuade my wife that rabbit is worth cooking I may as well get out of the game. Ox
By far the easiest recipe and the one I like the most is shake and bake for pork [I like that better then the chicken one]. Just make sure you dont over cook it as it will become dry. Follow the recipe just like for pork chops but dont cook for quite so long. If you have a rotisorie [sp?] and have baskets for them to cook pieces of chicken, burgers, etc. place a cut up rabbit in the basket. Baste with butter and garlic. YUM! Also I always refrigerate the meat for 24-48 hours after processing. Makes everything more tender. I learned this after the first time having chcikens butchered and was unhappy with the tenderness of the meat. Was told to always refrigerate for minimum of 24 hours. World of difference.
Tracy: We do chicken pretty much like shake & bake--Wife rolls it in cracker crumbs & bakes in oven. I love it. We had intended to get to that with rabbit but have not so far. Will try the Pork Shake & Bake. Our George F. rotisserie died & I've ordered one of the Ronco models--will try the rabbit on that. A little garlic, hmmm? My daughter will like that--she's big on garlic. Re the 24 hours in the fridge before freezing or using: I have been coached by a friend who says that 4 days is more like it. I have been cooling it down in the fridge for 4 days and have no complaints about tenderness---it is the taste that is the problem. The only taste in a rabbit seems to be in the fat and the liver. Plain domestic rabbit is just blah--a big disappointment to those of us who grew up on cottontail. I've know this for many years, so I have no idea why it bothers me now. Seasonings are the key. Ox
Rabbit with mustard sauce. Do a google search on it. My wife loves it. But, she loves everything I cook I have the recipe at home. I'll try to remember to post it. My favorite way to cook it is cut the rabbit up and dust with flour salt and pepper brown it well in a skillet add onions, spices you like (oregano, basil cayene) a little wine beer or water (not much just 1/2 inch or so) cover and simmer till tender Add a little flour to thicken gravy if you wish at the end you can add some vegetables if you like, but its good just like that. Cook squirrels the same way. put a little on your forhead and your tongue will slap your brains out
Sorry for the confusion. That recipe is how I like to cook rabbit the simple way. Here is the mustard recipe. We like it on pasta.We first had it on our honeymoon in Quebec city. I've never had it with squirrel, but I bet that would be good too. LAPIN A LA MOUTARDE (Rabbit in Mustard Sauce) 1 fresh rabbit, 2 1/2-3 lb, in pieces 1/3 c peanut oil 1 Tbsp unsalted butter 1/2 c whole-grain mustard 3 c dry white wine 1 c creme fraiche, sour cream, or plain yoghurt salt to taste 1/4 c fresh minced parsley, for garnish Preheat oven to 350F. In an ovenproof pan, heat the oil and butter, and quickly brown the rabbit. Discard excess oil. Brush rabbit pieces evenly with mustard, reserving 3 Tbsp for the sauce. Place rabbit in the oven and bake, covered, for 20 min. Pour wine over the rabbit and continue cooking, covered another 25 min. Remove the rabbit pieces from the cooking liquid and keep warm. Over high heat reduce the reserved coooking liquid by half (about 8-10 min.). Whisk in the creme fraiche, reserved mustard, and salt. Reduce heat and cook 3-4 min. Garnish with parsley and serve hot with rice or pasta.
I don't like rabbit or chicken done in the crock pot, but I don't really know why. I do my rabbit the same way I would any chicken recipe. I think one of the best ways we've done rabbit was Shake 'n' Bake. It was the flavor for pork chops and it was absolutely delicious!!! Try boning and using hot-wing mixes, too.
Hi What about coq au vin? Translation is chicken in wine sauce. It is a stew type/ slow cooked dish. Even my 3 yr. old will eat it. don't add so much wine if that's not your thing. Try a french cook book or The Joy of Cooking. It may have other dishes that sound fancy but are really just home country cooking.
I don't know if you have a way to do this, but I had some friends over last month and we had a mass bunny butcher. We took one eleven week old after we cleaned it and put him in a bowl and marinated him in Italian dressing for an hour. We built a fire and cooked him on a homemade spit. It was two metal poles with holes in them and two metal coat hangers stuck through him that we twisted through the holes in the poles. We cooked him for about 30-45 minutes. His front legs were a bit crunchy, but the rest of him was juicy and tender as it could be. Really simple and really good.
One of the secrets to cooking rabbit in a rotisserie will be if you wrap the rabbit in bacon. Though I have never tried to wrap rabbit in Banana leaves I know it would be just as delicious. Frying also provides a coating and helps to seal in the moisture. Rabbit just works best in a moist environment. This could mean boiled or steamed. Herbs should not be strong in flavor as they tend to overpower the light delicate flavor of rabbit. An example of herbs to be careful of is Rosemary or Oregano, easy on the Sage. Herbs like Marjoram, Basil or Thyme have lighter gentler flavor. Garlic also needs to be used sparingly as it also has a very strong flavor where as onions can be used to your hearts content. Vegetables like Carrots or Peas tend to add a little sweet flavor and tend to compliment the delicate flavor of Rabbit. Rabbit meat can be ground and made into sausage or dried and made into jerky. Use rabbit in your favorite chili recipe. Cold rabbit sandwiches or salad. The recipe book that the ARBA sells for $5.00 is well worth the money. It has over 500 recipes in it. Place rabbit in a Dutch oven, place carrots and onions in and around the rabbit. Sprinkle with thyme and salt and pepper to taste. Pour some water in the bottom ... you can use enough to keep it from burning on the bottom or allot and make soup with the broth later on. If you eat rice you can place rice in the bottom of the Dutch Oven with the appropriate amount of water. Cover and bake at 350^F for 1 hour. If it is an old rabbit then bake at 270^F for about 2.5.
Jessica; I'll try the barbequed rabbit. Italian dressing, you say? I just got a new Ron Popeil grill, so will test this. Westwood; thanks--the ARBA cookbook may be worth the money. Rabbit without seasoning is blah. Ox
Italian dressing is the only thing I used, but make sure he's young enough or he won't be as tender. I also forgot to add that while he was cooking, I poured the dressing he had soaked in over him every now and then. It only takes about one cup for each rabbit. Don't forget to turn him over while he's cooking.
Well, by golly, looks like y'all got my mouth watering for rabbit for supper. Now I gotta walk over to the store and get one, albeit it ain't fresh. Thanks for the string, Ox.
One way I like to cook them is marinade them in a 30 minute marinade (the pre-made stuff from kroger lol) either garlic and herb or Hawiian and then either put them in the rottisserie or the oven.
One word....... YOSHIDA'S .... I have yet to try it on rabbit since my own bunnies arent ready to butcher yet, but I havent found anything that stuff doesnt taste good on. Weve tried pork, chicken, trout, salmon, beef, deer, etc its very tasty..
Hehe I second "Yoshida" gourmet sauce, I never tried it on rabbit but lamb chops marinated in it then grilled are straight out of heaven!
