Farmed rabbit, whats the point?

[Shalmanese]

The local asian butcher had farmed rabbits on special so I decided to try one as I had never made it before. Wanting to maximise the learning experience, I decided to do rabbit 3 ways. The legs were rubbed with a spice rub, seared and then baked. The loin was cut into bit sized chunks, rolled in batter and deep fried with some fries. And the rest was chopped up and made into a stew.

In none of these preparations, did I actually bring out any rabbit flavour whatsoever, the meat remained stubbornly bland and utterly without charecter. In fact, as a test, I battered some chunks of chicken breast as well and fried them then challenged my brother to a blind taste test. He correctly picked out the chicken because it was the more flavourful of the two .

So am I correct in saying that farmed rabbit is completely and utterly without merit and really has no place in the kitchen or am I missing something distinct about it? Does the way it's raised have an effect on the taste? Is there better examples out there? For the same price, I could have gotten an organic, hormone free, free-range chicken and it would probably be less bony too.

[iriee]

try dartagnon.com. you can get wild rabbit from scotland and you will see a big difference.

[JohnL]

I agree re: farmed rabbit. For the most part, it does not seem to have a lot of flavor.

However, I have experienced more than a few "organically raised. free range" chickens with little or no taste.

And I have had some pretty flavorful mass produced samples--so maybe nature plays a mystery role somewhere in all of this.

Even "wild" game was "hung" to gain flavor (and tenderness) throughout history.

I do agree about the D'Artagnon rabbit it is quite good!

[kdl1221]

Not sure if I should be ashamed to say... my husband has a friend who's father raises rabbits for food. These were wild to start with that he caught. My husband and I had rabbit hunted many times, and I have many different ways of cooking rabbit .

We accepted as a gift two of their rabbits... and I tried the usualy recipes that are well liked... I found the same thing. Just tasteless. Might have something to do with what they are fed, lack of constant physical activity?

I am curious... were they skinned when you bought them? Could you really tell if they were "wild", or maybe just "regular" rabbits?

~K

[budrichard]

Query your 'Asian Butcher' about the precise source of his 'Farmed' rabbit and whether he purchased it frozen or unfrozen. Much of the commercial rabbit sold today comes frozen from China. I obtain mine form John's Live Poultry in Chicago and I know it is fresh because i pick them out of the cage while they are still hopping around. They are excellent tasting. I do shoot wild rabbits and the younger ones are great tasting but the old 'Bucks' and 'Does' must be braised or used in rillets. -Duck

[Ben Hong]

Most commercial farm raised game bears little resemblance to the wild variety. We hunters have known this all along. A white tail deer shot and hung for 4-5 days will invariably taste a lot better than venison bought at the supermarket. The same goes for rabbit, quail, partridge, grouse, etc. Wild animals get a truly varied diet from browsing, grazing, scratching. etc. Store bought game is fed an unvarying commercial diet.

If you really want the truest, most natural, tasting food available, take up hunting. Us hunters have a shrinking fraternity.

[PCL]

Shal,

there's a couple simple but elegant rabbit recipes floating on the Italy forum at the moment. the thread is called funnily enough, 'rabbit'. Sorry, too lazy to link.

bad rabbit source disregarded for the moment, most french and italian recipes call for marinading the bunny for a considerable while in white wine and herbs prior to prepping seriously for whatever venture you've got planned.