13 replies to this topic

[Mjx]

What are your favourite recipes that use rabbit liver?

After pretty much giving up on finding rabbit in Denmark, I more or less stumbled over one, in the city's most overpriced supermarket. It was frozen, imported, and frankly, on the small side, but The Splendid Table has a rabbit recipe that I adore ('Giovanna's Wine-Basted Rabbit'), so I coughed up the approximately USD20, and took home my prize (yes, things cost a lot here).

Included with the rabbit is its liver (I had no idea rabbits had such wacking great livers!), and I have no idea of what to do with it (it doesn't figure into the recipe I'm making): One of the forum's sages enjoined me to not refreeze it, which makes sense, but does mean I need to figure out what to do with it now.

Do rabbit livers have a flavour that lends itself to, say, appetizers of some sort?

[heidih]

I am ashamed to say I probably tossed the liver the last time I cooked rabbit years ago. This fried rabbit liver looks like a winner and could be done with a single liver.

[dougal]

Paté?

Off-the-cuff suggestion.
Take a couple of ordinary pork sausages. (More if appropriate.) Empty them into a processor/blender, add the liver and and blitz together.
Then mix that paste with some minced pork and a some coarsely chopped pork belly for textural variation.
Mix in any any scraps, trimmings and leftovers from the rest of the rabbit ... (cooked or raw).
Season to taste.
Maybe fry off a teaspoonful or two to check and adjust the seasoning.
I'd probably think of adding some garlic, mixed herbs and nutmeg - but you don't want to drown the rabbit's flavour.

Cook gently to a core temperature of about 62C ... and cool, pressing if you choose to.

Edited by dougal, 27 May 2011 - 10:07 AM.

[Peter the eater]

A friend of mine snares rabbits and eats some of the giblets. I've seen a bag of frozen livers in his freezer which I think get treated like chicken livers - fried up with onions, etc. I've not tried them.

I did have Arkansas rabbit kidneys at a nice restaurant in Chicago a while back. I remember seeing the sous fussing over these tiny organs.

[liuzhou]

Rabbit liver pâté. I've used (more or less) this recipe in the past.

[Beebs]

I've had it sauteed and tossed with pasta once. It was tasty.

[djyee100]

Funny, the only time I've cooked rabbit liver, it was with ONE liver, just like you. It came with the rabbit. I made a terrine of the rabbit meat with pork sausage, cognac, pistachios, thyme, juniper berries, and bay leaf. The whole rabbit liver went into the middle of the terrine, very decorative and tasty too. If you feel like making a terrine, you could probably substitute chicken breast for the rabbit meat, and the terrine would still taste good.

Or, you could make a cook's treat of the single liver: saute it in butter with a chopped shallot and S&P, deglaze the pan with a little white wine, and finish the dish with a few drops of balsamic vinegar and chopped parsley. You can eat this plain or mash it up and spread it on toast. As far as I can remember, rabbit's liver is pretty mild, like chicken liver.

Or, you can buy some chicken livers, add it to your single rabbit liver, and make Tuscan Chicken Liver Sauce from Judy Rodgers of Zuni Cafe in SF. I like garlic and chopped parsley in my sauce, too. My notes say to watch out for oversalting. Those capers and anchovies are pretty salty. The recipe is here:
http://events.nytime...uce/recipe.html

Edited by djyee100, 27 May 2011 - 10:48 AM.

[BadRabbit]

Add it to a mushroom risotto.

[rotuts]

WoW

what an erudite site!



I have the Splendid Table and have made that same Rx Is one of the more Unusual cookbooks I own.

sorry cant remember Liver Issues. My Cats probably got it. They Love liver. I dont unless its in a Pate or Mousse someone else made.

what about a Liver Mousse?

[Mjx]

Thanks, these are some great ideas! I think that this time, I'm going to go with frying or sauteeing, then perhaps cutting the liver into strips, and combining it with either the rice or the pinto beans that will accompanying the rabbit.

[nikkib]

lightly flour it and cook it with brandy and butter and add it to a salad of bitter greens with strips of bacon, artichoke, wild mushrooms and a poached egg on top

[budrichard]

Usually the liver is pureed and added to the sauce for the rabbit.
Imported rabbits in the US come from China. I don't use them. Where did your rabbit come from?-Dick

[Mjx]

Usually the liver is pureed and added to the sauce for the rabbit.
Imported rabbits in the US come from China. I don't use them. Where did your rabbit come from?-Dick

It was imported from France.

The recipe I'm working from uses the pan juices, plus lemon and white wine as a sauce, so I'm planning to incorporate the liver into the side dish of pinto beans that is going to accompany this. As will, I suppose, a whole bunch of other parts that it turns out were also included with the rabbit, and that I didn't notice before, since I got it wrapped and frozen.

I'm now wondering how lungs sautee.

[budrichard]

"I'm now wondering how lungs sautee. "

Not a clue!-Dick