Cooking rabbit

[tacklejunkie]

Got two while grouse hunting today. The question is, how do you cook them? Med rare? Do you age them like a deer or beef? These are cottontails and not snowshoes if that makes a difference

Oh...and can I do the cedar plank thing with them?

[pushbutton]

Safest bet would be to pressure cook, braise, stew, pot roast them with whatever recipe you use for chicken or beef....but probably a little lower and slower. Just make sure you put a sear on them first. Might want to also try a tenderizing type marinade on chunks, maybe with forking them first, and making Kabobs on the grill. Similarly, bet going nuts on cutlet strips with a meat tenderizer hammer thingy and making a rabbit "schnitzel" with like a mushroom or cream sauce poured over it would be the bomb.....think Ill try that one....got a few in my yard that was planning to go Fudd on.....

[delcecchi]

As I recall, wild rabbit or hare is extremely lean. And they run around a lot so might be on the chewy side. I think I would probably braise it.

Look up Hasenpfeffer for one possibility, or make rabbit and dumplings.

Hasenpfeffer recipe from the web.

6 -8 slices bacon, finely chopped

2 rabbits, wild if possible, otherwise domestic

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup onion, finely chopped

3/4 cup red wine vinegar

1 cup chicken stock, preferably homemade

1 bay leaf

Directions:

1

Heat the roaster or casserole over moderate heat and cook the bacon, stirring and turning it frequently, until crisp, about 10 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Set the pan with bacon fat aside for a few moments.

2

Cut the rabbit into serving pieces. Cut away and discard the belly meat.

3

Add the salt, pepper, and flour to a brown paper bag. Add a few rabbit pieces to the bag and shake to coat with flour mixture; repeat with remaining rabbit pieces.

4

Preheat the oven to 325°F.

5

Heat the reserved bacon fat in the pan over high heat until it sputters.

6

Brown the rabbit pieces on all sides, in batches; this should take about 10 minutes. Transfer them to a serving plate.

7

Pour off all but 2 tablespoon of fat and cook the onions in it until they are soft and translucent. Pour in the vinegar and chicken stock and add the bay leaf. Bring to a boil over high heat, scraping up any browned bits clinging to the bottom and sides of the pan.

8

Return the rabbit with juices to the roaster or casserole. Add the drained bacon. Cover the vessel tightly, and simmer for 1 1/2 hours, or until the rabbits are tender but not falling apart.

9

Serve the rabbit directly from the roaster or casserole, or arrange the pieces attractively on a heated platter.

[reinhard1]

LOL!!!i dont think that rabbit wants to leave that pot. tasty recipe Del. remindes me of something my mom made with the snowshoes we brought home. good luck.

[Whoaru99]

The easy approach for me is just browning it then slow simmer or crock pot in your favorite doctored up "Cream of " soup sauce. Fall apart tender and gravy for your taters.

[student]

I heard somewhere that you need to be careful when preparing rabbit as most have worms or parasites. Is this true?

[rjmiller47]

Cook them on the grill just like chicken. Then if you prefer, Lipton onion soup mix and Cream of Mushroom Soup mixed with a can of milk and in the oven @ 300 for 1 1/2 hours.

[mainbutter]

@student:

All wild animals have parasites. It's likely you have some too.

The severity of how they affect their hosts can be a pretty wide range, and transmission between very different species may not be easy for certain parasites. This latter reason is why I take my biggest precautions with mammals. I cook wild game thoroughly.

[BLACKJACK]

@student:

All wild animals have parasites. It's likely you have some too.

The severity of how they affect their hosts can be a pretty wide range, and transmission between very different species may not be easy for certain parasites. This latter reason is why I take my biggest precautions with mammals. I cook wild game thoroughly.

I have a problem with that last sentence, if you cook venison steak hard you're going to be eating tough meat, nobody will like it. Some consideration needs to be made for the age of the animal also, an old tough goose should be cooked differently than a young tender pheasant.

[LABS4ME]

My Mom always oven fried our rabbits. Fantastic.

Dredge quartered rabbit in seasoned flour (salt, pepper, sage, basil, little cumin, garlic powder), fry in pan till browned. Add tblsp or two oil to an oven roaster and lay in rabbit pieces and put sliced onion over the top.

Cover and Bake in oven at 350 till tender... about an hour and a half. Kind of like a poor man's pressure fryer... (broasting)

Still remember many a fantastic rabbit dinner. tastes very close to chicken and this is very tender. little mashed potatoes and gravy to go along with it....

Good Luck!

Ken

[Whoaru99]

Yeah, I've found cottontail isn't too tough, unlike squirrel often can be.

[lispeej]

We used to skin them all the time, add your spices, and deep fry. Yummy stuff. As some has already said, tastes like chicken.