Going to cook some rabbit this week

[Heimdhal]

Got ahold of some local rabbit from my cousins market.

The first recipe we are going to try is a pretty basic one. Its Red wine, Tomatoe sauce, Garlic, Onions, some flour, all goes in the crock pot (or pan in the oven) for a few hours. Theres some other stuff, but I dont have the recipe here in front of me, thats just the basic I could remember off the top of my head.

ANyways, it got me thinking: Who else has some tasty rabbit recipes?

I like rabbit, but havent had it in a very long time, and even then it wasnt often. I want to try a bunch of different recipes and methods to find out what works, what doesnt and what we like as we are considering getting some live rabbits to keep around for food.

So, any rabbit recipes, stories and experiences are welcome. I want to try smoking some when I get my smoker here the next few months. But that will be a ways off, because the line for stuff to be smoked is getting pretty long as it is!

[big country]

Definitely post up some recipes. We just bought a butchered domestic rabbit at the farmers market this weekend for my wife to try. I've never had domestic rabbit, but I've had wild rabbit I've shot before. We thought we'd try it first to make sure we like it before we start raising them ourselves.

Please post your favorite recipes!!

[Libertarian_Guard]

Get a roasting pan with sides that are at least 2 inches high.

Put in two rabbits, potatoes, onions and giblet gravy. Unless you care to make your own gravy, which would be better than canned giblet gravy.

Cover with aluminum foil and slow cook in the oven.

You could also throw some carrots in, as the rabbit would have wanted that way

[k-os]

You could also throw some carrots in, as the rabbit would have wanted that way


Funny. :D Reminds me of Bugs Bunny . . . but he always escaped.

Heimdhal, please let us know how it turned out.

[Heimdhal]

Get a roasting pan with sides that are at least 2 inches high.

Put in two rabbits, potatoes, onions and giblet gravy. Unless you care to make your own gravy, which would be better than canned giblet gravy.

Cover with aluminum foil and slow cook in the oven.

You could also throw some carrots in, as the rabbit would have wanted that way



The recipe we have is similar to this one in that it calls for putting everything in a roasting pan and cooking it in the oven for a few hours. My question is, could this be done in a crock pot, or is there something to doing it in a roasting pan? I was going to put it in the crock pot, but if the roasting pan is better, then I'll do that. This is my first time cooking rabbit.


Also, carrots will definitlby be added, not just because bugs would have wanted it that way, but because I think he'll taste much better with them! ;D


k-os, you're welcome to come over and partake in dinner if you'd like. Theres more than enough for all of us and I can always get more rabbit, since we get it for $1! ;D

[k-os]

k-os, you're welcome to come over and partake in dinner if you'd like. Theres more than enough for all of us and I can always get more rabbit, since we get it for $1! ;D


I would love to. I will expect a formal invitation in email with date, time and location. ;D Exciting! I've never had the opportunity to eat rabbit.

[Heimdhal]

k-os, you're welcome to come over and partake in dinner if you'd like. Theres more than enough for all of us and I can always get more rabbit, since we get it for $1! ;D


I would love to. I will expect a formal invitation in email with date, time and location. ;D Exciting! I've never had the opportunity to eat rabbit.


You've got mail

[Heimdhal]

Rabbit is in the oven.

The recipe seemed pretty good.

Cut the rabbit up into quarters or 6th's (thighs, breast, etc)

1/2 cup olive oil in a frying pan on low-medium. Brown the rabbit just a little, put into baking pan. salt/pepper.

2 cups sliced mushrooms, 1 cup shallots or 1 onion, diced, goes into frying pan with left over olive oil. Add a little more if needed. 2-3 minutes in pan, then add to the baking pan with rabbit.

Add 1/3 cup A.P. Flour.

Add 1 cup tomato sauce

Add 1 cup red burgundy or pinto noir wine

add 1-2 cups beef broth.

Add pinch of time and parsley, or I'd say roughly 1-2 tsp of each if fresh.

Stir it all together so its good and mixed. Want the flour to be well incorporated, as thats gonna be your sauce/gravy

Cover in tin foil, in the oven at 350 for 2-3 hours, stir every hour or so. Meat should come off the bone when ready.


Thats the recipe I followed. Im looking forward to tasting it here in a few hours. Smells good in the house already!

[willie pete]

Let us know how it came out, never eaten rabbit, is your's wild or farmed? how strong of a taste does the meat have? I guess it's all dark meat right?

[Heimdhal]

Let us know how it came out, never eaten rabbit, is your's wild or farmed? how strong of a taste does the meat have? I guess it's all dark meat right?


its been a while since I've eaten it, but it doesnt have an overly strong taste. Stronger than chicken though, but thats not a bad thing.

The one I picked up is farmed. I got it from the market my cousin owns, and knowing where they get the rest of their stuff from, Im sure its farmed.

Its not dark meat like chicken is. theres light and dark, like the thighs will obviously be darker than say the tenders (back straps). But this is my first time cooking it myself, so maybe some one else can answer in more detail than I. ;)

[willie pete]

Gracias :D

[Heimdhal]

K-os just left, and we finished cleaning up. It was by far one of the best meals I have had in a very, very long time and rabbit will now become a large staple of our home cooked meal. I for one would not mind total replacing chicken with rabbit.

One rabbit left enough meat for the four us and easily a 5th, even after my toddler daughter ate her own helping. I've still got an entire rib cage left and some of the back strap. The thighgs and legs were fantastic, the tenders were amazingling succulent and were the closest to chicken of all the meat.

Definitley doing more rabbit in the coming weeks. And I am very strongly considering bucking my townhouses HOA and "raising" some on the back porch until we get out of here and get more space.

[k-os]

Ah, you beat me to it.

It was fantastic! I've never had rabbit before, and it was delicious. I had a thigh. The meat fell right off of the bone, and had a very mild flavor.

I never would have thought when I woke up this morning that I'd be at Heimdhal's house for dinner eating rabbit with his beautiful family.

Thanks again!

[willie pete]

Thanks for that follow up, I may have to try wabbit :D

[StackerKen]

Yeah :-\ Thanks alot

I see rabbits everyday in our yard...Now Im tempted

[Fanta]

Thank you for coming! The meal was fantastic and the company was better! We will have to do it again soon! :)

[big country]

Good Recipe! My wife and I tried it last night with the rabbit we got at the farmers market. It was very good. I cut the rabbit into 6 pieces. Cut the four legs off at the shoulders, then cut the body in half behind the rib cage.

We gave the ribs and front half to the dog (raw) for his dinner, and cooked the rear half in with the rest of the rabbit.

Substituted Grapeseed Oil for the olive oil and had to use Pinto Nior for the wine as we could not find red burgundy? (bought the little bottles, 1 cup "servings" so I wouldn't have to drink the rest of the bottle after we opened it)

We used a 9x13 pan, I think next time I would put it all in a dutch oven and stick that in the oven instead.

I would make the recipe again, You could definitely taste the wine in the gravy, I would like to try it with a sweeter wine next time. I think that would be really good. Maybe a fruity wine like blueberry or blackberry wine.

Bottom line is that it was a hit and that we'll be having even more rabbit in the future! Thanks for the reciepe!

[Heimdhal]

Good Recipe! My wife and I tried it last night with the rabbit we got at the farmers market. It was very good. I cut the rabbit into 6 pieces. Cut the four legs off at the shoulders, then cut the body in half behind the rib cage.

We gave the ribs and front half to the dog (raw) for his dinner, and cooked the rear half in with the rest of the rabbit.

Substituted Grapeseed Oil for the olive oil and had to use Pinto Nior for the wine as we could not find red burgundy? (bought the little bottles, 1 cup "servings" so I wouldn't have to drink the rest of the bottle after we opened it)

We used a 9x13 pan, I think next time I would put it all in a dutch oven and stick that in the oven instead.

I would make the recipe again, You could definitely taste the wine in the gravy, I would like to try it with a sweeter wine next time. I think that would be really good. Maybe a fruity wine like blueberry or blackberry wine.

Bottom line is that it was a hit and that we'll be having even more rabbit in the future! Thanks for the reciepe!


Im glad you liked it and Im even more glad you brought this thread up, as were doing rabbit again this week, with a new recipe and I need more ideas!!!

Pinot Noir is what we used as well. Any good, full bodied red wine would be fine for this recipe really, but the pinot seemed to be the best choice. I like your idea of using a blue or blackberry wine as well. It would add a sort of fruity undertone and I'm sure it would be great, particularly with wild rabbit, just so you can give it some big, pompus french name ;D

K-os is going to have to come over again and try our new recipe this week. Im thinking something fairly simple, like a mushroom gravy and veggies Pretty much the same as the one above, but with a mushroom base instead of tomato and wine.

It was my first time butchering a rabbit and I was suprised at how easy it all was. Maybe it wasnt normal, but I almost didnt even need a knife for most of the joints, they easily just pulled apart with a little effort. Must be the plan for rabbit: Delicious sustenence.

[k-os]

K-os is going to have to come over again and try our new recipe this week. Im thinking something fairly simple, like a mushroom gravy and veggies Pretty much the same as the one above, but with a mushroom base instead of tomato and wine.


You don't have to ask me twice. I will expect a formal invitation via email. ;D

[Heimdhal]

K-os is going to have to come over again and try our new recipe this week. Im thinking something fairly simple, like a mushroom gravy and veggies Pretty much the same as the one above, but with a mushroom base instead of tomato and wine.


You don't have to ask me twice. I will expect a formal invitation via email. ;D


Then one you shall recieve, madam.

[big country]

yeah, ours was already skinned and gutted, but I cut the rest. The legs did come off easily. Just a little twist and used the knife to cut the tendon. I had no experience either, only bone I used the knife for was to cut the backbone right behind the rib cage. We have a set of really nice Warther Cutlery knives so I was a bit hesitant to cut bone with it. unfortunately if I had waited only 1 day I would have had a butcher knife. My Cutco butcher knife came in the mail today (that was one expensive little bastard).

http://www.warthercutlery.com/catalog

We'll be doing it again in the future, my wife liked it so someday when we get our house we'll definately have a rabbit cage and raise our own along with the chickens and maybe a turkey or a duck.

I think a mushroom gravy base would be really good, you'll have to let us know how that turns out.

[Heimdhal]

yeah, ours was already skinned and gutted, but I cut the rest. The legs did come off easily. Just a little twist and used the knife to cut the tendon. I had no experience either, only bone I used the knife for was to cut the backbone right behind the rib cage. We have a set of really nice Warther Cutlery knives so I was a bit hesitant to cut bone with it. unfortunately if I had waited only 1 day I would have had a butcher knife. My Cutco butcher knife came in the mail today (that was one expensive little bastard).

http://www.warthercutlery.com/catalog

We'll be doing it again in the future, my wife liked it so someday when we get our house we'll definately have a rabbit cage and raise our own along with the chickens and maybe a turkey or a duck.

I think a mushroom gravy base would be really good, you'll have to let us know how that turns out.


Good knives can handle the fragile bones of things like chickens and rabbits. I wouldnt worry about it too much. Just run it over the steel a few times when your done to straighten the edge up a bit. Obviously large pork or beef bones arent gonna be good for it, but these little ones are fine.

Of course really you want to cut inbetween the bones as best you can. Ive worked for some very good butchers and that was always the advice. They could use a run of the mill French Knife and bust out a whole bunch of chicken or side of beef in no time flat.

ETA:

Hit reply before I was done typing.

I was gonna say raising turkey and duck would be really cool. I dont know how hard duck would be though, wouldnt they fly away? But definitley, if I could, I'd have rabbit, turkey, chickens, even some goats and pigs in a heart beat. I actualy like goat meat alot, if its cooked rigth. Though, they are better served for milking is my understanding.

[big country]

I've never had goat, the guy at the farmers market that had the rabbit sells goat, I might grab some next week and give it a try. I can't imagine it being too bad. He's actually a really neat guy, Primarily raises lambs (meat variety) and that is mighty tasty. WE love lamb in this house (we might be greek...somehow! haha), He also has goats and rabbits.

He told us when we bought the rabbits that when he first started farming he was raising ONLY rabbits, he said he had 500 does! (The max litters for a rabbit is what, 12/yr. Lets assume only 10 litters to give them time to rest. Average of 7 rabbits per litter.) That means 2900 rabbits PER MONTH! (500x10x7)/12 = 2916.6. He said he sold 2000 month to local restaurants, but lost his processor like 5 months into the rabbit business and had to sell it all. That is when he got started with sheep, just recently getting back into rabbits. Really neat guy to talk to. I'll pick up some goat next week. PM me (or post it here) a recipe for goat so we don't get started off wrong!

I need to take a knife sharpening class, never done it before and I have no idea how! It is on my short list of things to learn though!

[Heimdhal]

I've never had goat, the guy at the farmers market that had the rabbit sells goat, I might grab some next week and give it a try. I can't imagine it being too bad. He's actually a really neat guy, Primarily raises lambs (meat variety) and that is mighty tasty. WE love lamb in this house (we might be greek...somehow! haha), He also has goats and rabbits.

He told us when we bought the rabbits that when he first started farming he was raising ONLY rabbits, he said he had 500 does! (The max litters for a rabbit is what, 12/yr. Lets assume only 10 litters to give them time to rest. Average of 7 rabbits per litter.) That means 2900 rabbits PER MONTH! (500x10x7)/12 = 2916.6. He said he sold 2000 month to local restaurants, but lost his processor like 5 months into the rabbit business and had to sell it all. That is when he got started with sheep, just recently getting back into rabbits. Really neat guy to talk to. I'll pick up some goat next week. PM me (or post it here) a recipe for goat so we don't get started off wrong!

I need to take a knife sharpening class, never done it before and I have no idea how! It is on my short list of things to learn though!


I dont have any goat recipes of my own; I've never made my own, but I've had it made for me a few times, at restaurants and a few times in culinary school. I always liked it, but I think it needs to be slow cooked like rabbit. most of the dishes I had it in were slow cook kind of dishes, so I am just assuming that to be the case. Its more like steak texture than rabbit is.

If I ever did rabbits, I dont think I could handle 2900! lol. Just enough for me and mine and maybe some to sell to neighbors to cover feed and housing costs, which shouldnt be much. Rabbits pretty much eat any leafy left overs too, from what I understand, so that takes care of most of the feed right there.

As far as knife sharpening, there should be a ton of youtubes about it. The best stones I've seen are the ones we used in the food industry/culinary school which were triangular, flat stones, each side having a different "grit".

Just like these: http://www.jbprince.com/images/M1005.jpg

At home I have an electric wheel I got at sears a few years back, but to tell you the truth, I prefered the one above. Also, the steels that come with most knife kits arent really for sharpening per se, they are for keeping the blade sharp longer between sharpenings by honing/straightening the edge up.

When you get the goat, you'll have to share the recipe and after-dinner report!

[big country]

I definitely will post recipes and a report. I don't think any GSUSers live close enough for me to invite over for dinner, so it will just have to be my wife and I.

We have a knife steel we got for our wedding I just have no idea how to use it. I watched some youtube videos last night and I'm going to give it a shot tonight when I get home. Looked easy enough!

I'll have to look around for one of those stones, do you use oil with them? I'm not a total dunce, I watched my dad do it a million times, I've just never done it. I'm afraid of ruining the edge even worse, that is my biggest hang up!

[Heimdhal]

This evenings rabbit feast was another hit, at least in my book. I made it in a mushroom gravy with potatoes, celery, carrots, garlic, onion and fresh sliced mushrooms.

Served with a side of mixed, steamed veggies, preceeded by shrimp risatto and home made bruschetta fresh from the garden, finished off with cheesecake with strawberry sauce.

Im still pretty damned full, and theres plenty of left overs!

The recipe was pretty easy on this one:

1/4 cup AP flour
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder (both less than a tsp, give or take)
Diced onion (if desired)
3 cloves garlic, diced
1 2-3 pound rabbit, quartered, or cut as desired
Fresh sliced mushrooms (as desired, I'd say about a cup)
I cheated and used condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 cup or so chicken stock (or water, but water has no flavor)
1 cup sliced carrots (or whole baby carrots, if you want)
5 or 6 cups diced red potatos
Salt/Pepper to Taste
Herbs as desired (italian works good: Rosemary, Oregano, maybe even a little basil, but not much)


~Put Cream of Mushroom Soup and Chicken Stock in roasting pan, mix
~Stir in Flour
~Brown rabbit lightly in Olive Oil (or whatever oil you'd like) put in roasting pan
~Put potatoes/carrots, salt/pepper, herbs, garlic, onion, etc in pan and incorporate (cover in mushroom sauce, etc)
~Roast at 350 until fork tender, about 2 hours. Stir every hour. It was ready in 2 hours, but I reduced heat after 2 hours to 280 and cooked for an additional hour and a half because I wanted it falling off the bone tender. Thickend the sauce up pretty good too and K-Os hadnt shown up yet, so I might as well have let it cook longer. ;)


I enjoyed it, and Fanta and K-Os said they did as well, so I must have done alright. Its a pretty simple recipe, which is what I was going for.

This would also be a great recipe for dutch ovens, either in an oven or over coals/fire as it would make a sort of stew.

Next recipe I might try a sort of Hassenpfeffer, a traditional German rabbit stew.

[k-os]

I can verify . . . everything was awesome! I am so lucky to be able to join you guys for a family dinner.

[big country]

Sounds good, we may have to give that a try next!

[zap]

Yes that sounds really good,

Way back 20 years ago a friend and I made rabbit I had never cooked it before, we floured it and fried it then put it in a pan with onions, mushrooms, garlic, white wine, and a jar of spanish olives, and baked it, thickened the sauce after it was done , I love rabbit.