Wild Rabbit

[Vivian Mallinson]

Need they be eaten freshly killed or should/could they be left to hang for a while?

Does the meat survive being frozen?

When cooking them, should I guard against toughness/dryness? If so, how? Can young specimens be roasted/grilled?

Can anyone recommend special preparations? The only (tame) rabbit dish I know how to make is paella.

Answers to some or all of the above would be much appreciated - I am expecting to receive a glut of the things this weekend!

[Jinmyo]

Oooh. Hang them a bit. They really stink and you need some of that rankness to move into the air.

Sure, it can be frozen.

Brine them to avoid toughness/dryness.

Thousands of ways to prepare rabbit (wild or tame). Do a Google search and have fun.

edit full disclosure:

"Thouysands"? I think not.

[Wilfrid]

I envy you.  Can't get wild rabbit in New York.  Definitely brine them if you freeze them, or you will have toughness problems.  If you make a stew or casserole, you have the option of freezing portions for later use - I'd probably go that way.

Spread it with mustard before roasting.  Sprinkle some chopped green herbs.  Joint it up and make a simple mustard sauce - equal parts mustard and butter cooked gently together, then add warm white wine slowly until you like the consistency.  That is a la moutarde; introduce some cream to the sauce and you can call it a la Cauchoise.

If you've brined it, which helps tenderize, joint it up and dip in season flour and fry it.  Serve with a garlic mayonnaise.

By the way, do check that the rabbits have been thoroughly cleaned before hanging them.  I have found bits and pieces you don't really want overlooked by hasty butchers sometimes.  Oh, if you have the liver, fry it and eat it!

Enjoy.

[Jinmyo]

Wilfrid, I had forgotten about the liver. And sometimes they come with the kidney still. Amazing.

Has anyone ever tried rabbit hearts?

[Wilfrid]

I might well have tried the heart, but I suspect it would be an extremely tough little morsel, and hardly worth long stewing unless you've got a bunch of them.  It's the bowel, I am afraid, which hasty butchers occasionally overlook.  

[Vivian Mallinson]

Thanks for the tips so far. Fried with garlic mayonnaise sounds an enticing prospect...

The reason I am asking is they have been breeding uncontrollably in my garden and eating everything in sight. They have gotten so fat and bold that they barely bother to run away if you approach them. So I have invited my shotgun-toting brother to stay, on condition he shoots as many as he can. The butcher is going to be me, so the first couple of goes are bound to be messy! But at least I am sure to get all the good innards. How does the liver compare with, say, chicken or duck's?

With the hanging, do you reckon a day or so in their fur in a cool place will be enough?

[Wilfrid]

About the same size as a duck's liver, I would say, and similar in taste and texture.  Less bitter than chicken livers.  Sounds like you are going to have a lot of fun.  When you've done the standard recipes, let us know and we can come up with all the weird stuff.  Rabbit sorbet, and so on  

[Rachel Perlow]

Shhh! Be vewy vewy quiet. I'm hunting wabbits! heheheh

- Elmer Fudd

BTW - Where are you located on the globe?

[lturley4]

Sorry to be a bit off subject, but Wilfrid, do you bread your livers or simply sautee...my mother used to sautee with a little onion but my wife can't understand the concept of liver.   Never had breaded.  Perhaps she would prefer a breaded version...don't we all...

[Sandra Levine]

Cook thoroughly to avoid the danger of tularemia.  

Click here for information about tularemia

I remember a very long article in the New Yorker by E.J. Kahn years ago about this illness.

[Vivian Mallinson]

A short post, in haste.

We bagged seven bunnies on Saturday. Eight in fact, but one was too badly shot up to be edible. It pays to be sure of hitting the head.

They all seemed young, according to the criteria provided by my helpful local butcher (tough ears, nicotine yellow teeth = old).

Skinning and cleaning: gets easier with practice. Ahem, my kitchen looked like a charnel house at first.

Ate two on Saturday night, fried, with wild garlic mayonnaise, braised flageolet beans and chorizo. Also fried slices of the liver, heart and lungs. Threw the kidneys away, they smelt vile. The flesh was good, with a stronger taste than farmed rabbit but still quite delicate, and tender. The heart and lungs were okay. But the eye-opener was the liver, which was only marginally less fine than calf's. The mayo and beans were a good accompaniment, sympathetic to both the taste and the texture of the meat.

Made a further two into terrines, which I will be broaching next weekend, and the rest are in the freezer.

[Wilfrid]

my kitchen looked like a charnel house at first.

Try cleaning a hare some time - blood city. You wouldn't want the local constabulary knocking at your door.

Glad you liked the rabbit liver - a tasty delicacy.

[Jordan Lea]

My garden is absolutely under seige from rabbits as well but they don't like what I am growing this year. they use my garden for cover and eat my neighbors beans, peas, etc.

I have found most rabbit recipes to be interchageable with pheasant, chukkar and possibly even quail recipes. They are excellent braised and will keep well frozen for at least a few months.

I have method for preperation at home i serve with polenta and a bitter green or even spinach if you're still interested.

as for cleaning them i "peel" them, gut them, cut them into pieces, wash them well and freeze them brined.

[Natho]

So I got hold of a wild rabbit from a german butcher (I live in australia) whilst looking for something to cook that I hadn't done before. Spying some particularly promising looking chorizo I grabbed a few of those as well. I made a stew of rabbit, chorizo, tomatos, green olives, white wine, mushrooms and thyme. It tasted great however the rabbit was really quite tough and dry, kind of the texture of really dry chicken breast meat. It also seemed to almost have some kind of membrane over the meat, as if it had only been half skinned, which was not apparent before cooking. Although my friend was rather put off of any future rabbit consumption, I am keen to have another crack at it, albeit in a different form.

Does anybody have any suggestions as far as cooking rabbit goes? I suppose a farmed rabbit would be a fair bit softer then a wild one due to it not spending it's life running from dingos and wild cats.

[HungryC]

I grew up eating wild rabbit--it does need a slower, gentler braise than commercially farmed rabbit, but it also tastes better, I think. You do want to make sure it is completely skinned, no membranes covering the muscle. Low-n-slow is the way to go. You might even try doing it in a slow cooker (aka Crock-Pot). Just be sure to brown it first.

[terryturbojr]

I made a wild rabbit stew recently, with bacon and cider. After browning it got about 1 1/4 hours at 120. It was tender but wasn't falling off the bone as I'd have liked - I had time constraints though so ate it anyway. If I do it again I'll go for nearer 1 1/2 hours before testing for doneness.

Here's the recipe:

http://cookingthebooks.typepad.com/cooking...abbit-stew.html

[muichoi]

Young wild rabbits can be grilled to delicious effect.

[HungryC]

Mary Land's Louisiana Cooking, an excellent resource for cooking just about anything that flies, swims, walks, or grows in Louisiana, is avaialble online via Google books: http://books.google.com/books?id=cRCJb_5jn...result#PPA85,M1

Her recipe for rabbit & turnip stew is a good one.

[budrichard]

There is a difference between a rabbit and a hare. Are you sure what you had was a rabbit and not a hare. There are also differences between rabbits around the world. Generally a hare is larger and would be tougher than a rabbit.

The age of the animal also has a great deal to do with the tenderness. Usually if someone gives you wild game there is a reason.-Dick

[Amarantha]

I shot a young rabbit about four years ago, and it cooked up a treat I can't remember the exact ingredients I used with it, but I remember the cooking method.

I marinated overnight in various flavours including worcestershire sauce, and possibly also soy sauce, mustard, garlic and ginger.

Then I chucked it, whole, inna cast iron pot with chopped onion and carrot, puy lentils, stock, wine and I forget which herbs/spices. Oh, and one of its kidneys that I'd managed to retain when I cleaned it.

Then I cooked it very low and slow; about 6-7 hours at probably 120-140 degrees Celcius.

It was soft and moist and delicious, and just fell apart when eaten. We had it with mashed kipflers.

[Natho]

Usually if someone gives you wild game there is a reason.-Dick

←

We bought it from a butcher.

And the butcher said it was a rabbit so thats all i can go on, as far identifying a particular species by a skinned carcass I'm not that talented.

Incidently both myself and my friend got a mild but unpleasant case of food poisoning after eating this dish. I'm blaming it on either the rabbit or the chorizo, as nothing else we put into it would have caused it (well, not likely anyway). We did cook it for 1 and a half hours so it wasn't undercooked. Still keen to try again though.

editted for spelling caused by typing on a black keyboard at night

Edited October 1, 2008 by Natho (log)

[Bridgestone]

Some pictures from a hare I cooked about a year ago.

Marinate overnight:

Ingredients for final dish:

Brown the hare and braise in the chopped vegetables and reserved marinade:

When tender, remove bones (while reducing the braising liquid) and chop the meat. Add to the reduced braising liquid.

Boil some pasta and serve:

Gamey, tasty and not too dry.

[jmacnaughtan]

Evening everyone,

Does anyone have any experience cooking with wild rabbit? I picked up my very first today from the market, watched it get skinned and gutted and didn't notice any real odour.

Bringing it back and opening the bag, I got hit with a smell that literally made me recoil. It smelled even worse than the really pungent andouillettes. It was truly awful.

Is this normal for game? I've heard of the "gamey" smell, but this was closer to a toilet. After rinsing and getting rid of the liver it improved, but I'd like to know the difference between gamey and just plain bad. I've never had this sort of smell from game birds, so maybe it's just a rabbit thing?

Thanks,

James

[jayt90]

Were there spots on the liver? Was it government inspected? Something seems amiss. I'd give it one last chance by koshering

[annabelle]

It sounds like the bile gland on the liver got nicked. Bile smells really awful, so that could be the problem.

jayt90 has the right idea in koshering it. If that doesn't do it, then I'd return it and explain the situation to the butcher.