Saddle of rabbit off the bone

[ninagluck]

what are youre suggestions abt time and temp? Want to roll it in hazelnut after and serve with a saffron sauce.

Sv it? toss with hazelnut, fry? Sv, fry? toss in hazelnut? too many questions?

Easter Bunny needs to be served right!

[ChrisTaylor]

Saute gently w/ lots of butter.

[Plantes Vertes]

Are you planning to stuff it? For a classic recipe of saddles stuffed and rolled in bacon/caul fat or similar, cooked conventionally by frying or in the oven, you wouldn't want it on the heat for more than 10mins. You could either:

-brown the rolled-up saddles all over very quickly in a hot pan and then finish quickly in an oven at gas 7 for another 5-7mins, or finish slowly at gas mark 2 for 10-12mins

-brown slightly more slowly (say with 8 minutes in the pan) and just rest the meat straight away.

It's a good idea to check for doneness a few times by poking a knife in and taking the meat out as soon as the flesh goes opaque. Rest for 8-10mins.

If SV-ing, put the rolled, stuffed and wrapped saddles, bound in cling film, in at 62 degrees for three hours, cool, chill promptly in ice water, and then brown in a hot pan for 5mins and rest 8-10mins to serve.

Hope you have a nice Easter meal!

Edited March 30, 2013 by Plantes Vertes (log)

[sigma]

Sous vide rabbit saddle is not good.

[ninagluck]

@Sigma, why?

[Baselerd]

I dunno what you're talking about Sigma - I've made the rabbit saddle from Under Pressure (Thomas Keller) before and it was excellent Sous Vide.

He has you remove the loins from the saddle (one with the flank attached), score the meat, and roll it into a log. Wrap it with bacon, compress it in a vacuum bag, and Sous Vide for 18 minutes at 147 F. Finish it off on a saute pan with neutral oil to crisp all sides of the bacon. Some of the best rabbit I've had, much less made.

Edited March 30, 2013 by Baselerd (log)

[ninagluck]

18 minutes sounds a bit short? how was the meat then?

[ChrisTaylor]

I suspect that if you sous vide it too long it'd be all grainy and horrible.

Still, yeah. Throw 'Mark Best' and 'rabbit' into Google. The rabbit dish I've had at Marque--the recipe is in the book so I guess it must be online somewhere (if not, there's a 'home cook' version floating around)--was excellent.

[ninagluck]

thxs chris, i have the marque book somewhere on my shelf. Did not remember the bunny, will be my bedstory for tonight!

[Mjx]

I've had rabbit (and venison) cooked sous vide, and my experience is that this method seems to emphasize the murkier notes of gaminess, making it kind of unpleasant. I may have been unlucky; anyone else encounter this? It seems worth mentioning.

I generally roast rabbit, using the wine-basted rabbit recipe from The Splendid Table as a starting point (160C for an hour, turning partway through, then 230C for 15 min., turning partway through), and the results have been exceptional.

[Baselerd]

18 minutes did seem short to me at first, but after several minutes of sauteing it turned out great.

[sigma]

If you are cooking it for 18 minutes sous vide then sauteeing it for several minutes, then it might be fine, but at that point it really isn't cooked sous vide, the roll is just set by putting it in a water bath. Cooked sous vide at a temp just above target rabbit becomes unacceptably mushy. There are several meats which react this way.

Edited March 31, 2013 by sigma (log)