Thread: Very bad rabbit smell if not gutted immedietely

Ive noticed that if i decide not to gut a rabbit immediately after shooting so i can bring it home to process, the entire rabbit including the flesh smells like a weird biochemical waste + petroleum and a little sprinkling of hell, even if the rabbit has only been killed 1 or two hours ago. Does the bloating cause nasty smells to spread from the body cavity to the rest of the animal or something? This smell is completely absent in rabbits that I gut in the field so it is definitely from the guts. Even the back straps smell a bit like that weird smell. Not even sure if I should eat it. Its as if the whole animal is spoiled. Absolutely no part of the guts were punctured, completely clean.

Anyone else have experience with very bad rabbit meat smell if not gutted immediately after shooting? What is this unholy sorcery? Is the meat salvageable?

All of the rabbits I shot with my grandfather were soaked in milk before cooking
I wonder of this was done to remove the odor.
His taste for rabbit was gained during the war when often it was the only meat available

Originally Posted by Boxton

All of the rabbits I shot with my grandfather were soaked in milk before cooking
I wonder of this was done to remove the odor.
His taste for rabbit was gained during the war when often it was the only meat available

Yeah might try the milk or salt water thing, but the other rabbits i gutted instantly have beautiful neutral-smelling meat, no bad smell whatsoever. I wonder if rabbits have such thin instestinal walls that bacteria and other stuff can leak out and penetrate the surrounding meats, or maybe travel through the intact blood vessels. @Boxton does your grandfather have a favourite recipe?

Originally Posted by JessicaChen

Yeah might try the milk or salt water thing, but the other rabbits i gutted instantly have beautiful neutral-smelling meat, no bad smell whatsoever. I wonder if rabbits have such thin instestinal walls that bacteria and other stuff can leak out and penetrate the surrounding meats, or maybe travel through the intact blood vessels. @Boxton does your grandfather have a favourite recipe?

When we used to shoot them, if we were keeping them, I would usually sleeve skin the rear end, gut and chop the back half off at about the rib cage or simply take the back legs....We did not enjoy meat flavoured toothpicks or the rabbit "chicken nibbles" that were up front so took the two 'drum sticks' and finger steaks (Back steaks the size of fingers....)

Rabbit guts is one of the worst odours I can think of. I remember rather fondly my hunting mate had a bit of a weak stomach, and would tend to retch a bit at it when we were gutting them for cat food (early 90s so a while ago) not so much at the smell, but the fact that I would be eating a moro bar or drinking a bottle of coke or similar and belching while we did this. (no alcohol as we still had to drive home)

One hint though, we always had a pair of yellow kitchen gloves for when we were gutting them. Once gutting was done, the gloves went in a bag and clean up was easier as we would eat our dinner in the car on the drive home.....

Hares are 10x worse! If you're going to eat them, get the gut out or the meat off ASAP. Can't say delaying taints the meat terribly, but the smell is so bad, you're not going to want to eat it! I use the gutless method on rabbits (and all other animals). No need getting in to the guts. There's some good videos on YouTube which show you what to do. Skin off. Cut around back legs, dislocate the joint and remove. Cut out backstraps. I don't normally bother with the front legs, but they are removed very easily as well.

Um. Was lonnnnnng lonnnng ago
But basically any chicken recipe
Casserole mostly but also jointed and some parts fried as well.

Yup, the squeeze them out method was how we did it in the 80s as teenagers. We did use a knife, a razor, very small knick through the groin, then a shake downwards, then squeeze. The old gamekeeper at the manor showed us how and he was very fussy about clean carcasses and we’d get hollered at if there was any residual bits, definitely not allowed to leave any part of the urinary tract or alimentary canal in the carcass - you’d get a kick up the arse if you did that. So after the guts popped out you’d hook a finger in and pull out the last bits.

During those years I developed a staunch dislike for rabbit that I’ve never gotten over. I know they can be good to eat and all but I just can’t be bothered. Not just that smell, but memories of having to clean up hundreds and hundreds of 12ga shot rabbits during the mid-80s plague, and then even worse having to deal to hundreds more zombie rabbits staggering around the dairies with myxomatosis, all blind and puss ridden. They became no different to rats to me and I won’t have anything to do with them other than feeding them to the dogs. Silly really.

Rabbits naturally have a uriney smell. Very light salt brine if you are worried.
Fool proof cooking method: 2 tsp flour 1tsp ground Cumin dash pepper mixed. Rabbit joints into oven bag with flour mix. Roll around in bag to coat near enough, being careful not to puncture bag. Tie off bag leaving tiny vent. Bake in covered dish 21/2 hours at 140c

I'm pretty ambivalent about eating them. At best, tastes like bland chicken, at worst, tough/dry grass flavoured meat. I've discovered a few good recipes though, KFB and bunny biryani. I've posted these recipes up previously.

Originally Posted by MB

I'm pretty ambivalent about eating them. At best, tastes like bland chicken, at worst, tough/dry grass flavoured meat. I've discovered a few good recipes though, KFB and bunny biryani. I've posted these recipes up previously.

Yeah bunny meat is nothing special, but it is a nice cheap source of lean free range white meat. Can be really nice if cooked right just like lean chicken. I usually poach them and shred into sandwich material, no different to shredded chicken. Add mayonnaise, onion, salt and pepper. Also good in spicy soups. There is a recipe out there for Hmong squirrel soup where I substitute squirrel with rabbit.

Originally Posted by JessicaChen

Yeah bunny meat is nothing special, but it is a nice cheap source of lean free range white meat. Can be really nice if cooked right just like lean chicken. I usually poach them and shred into sandwich material, no different to shredded chicken. Add mayonnaise, onion, salt and pepper. Also good in spicy soups. There is a recipe out there for Hmong squirrel soup where I substitute squirrel with rabbit.

Sure. We don't buy meat from the supermarket, so do utilise rabbits fairly frequently.

Originally Posted by MB

Sure. We don't buy meat from the supermarket, so do utilise rabbits fairly frequently.

The average cheap supermarket meat is even worse than tainted rabbit!

I always gut fairly soon (within an hour or 2) but only keep clean shot rabbits.
I just do the ol knick on the tummy hold front and rear legs and give it a flick away from me and the guts flys out.
While I am certainly aware of the smell I cant say I have ever had the meat taste like it? But then I keep them clean and always brine or soak in milk before preparing for cooking.

Just found this web page which claims that "When the stomach and intestines are left in a rabbit, they have a tendency to taint the flesh in an unpleasant manner. Even more important is to remove the strong smelling glands by the rectum."
https://www.shootinguk.co.uk/answers...-rabbits-24998

Still curious about why and how the intestines taint the flesh without any nicks and just by existing in the body cavity, but at least something out there confirms my suspicions.

@veitnamcam While I am certainly aware of the smell I cant say I have ever had the meat taste like it? But then I keep them clean and always brine or soak in milk before preparing for cooking.

Yeah the soaking probably helps. I left my 'tainted' meat in the fridge overnight and most of the bloated gut smell has gone (but still not as nice as meat from my insta-gutted bunnies), so I think soaking it will help get rid of any lingering smelly taste.

Originally Posted by JessicaChen

Just found this web page which claims that "When the stomach and intestines are left in a rabbit, they have a tendency to taint the flesh in an unpleasant manner. Even more important is to remove the strong smelling glands by the rectum."
https://www.shootinguk.co.uk/answers...-rabbits-24998

Still curious about why and how the intestines taint the flesh without any nicks and just by existing in the body cavity, but at least something out there confirms my suspicions.

Yeah the soaking probably helps. I left my 'tainted' meat in the fridge overnight and most of the bloated gut smell has gone (but still not as nice as meat from my insta-gutted bunnies), so I think soaking it will help get rid of any lingering smelly taste.

OK, this applies to all animals, including humans. Rabbits may be more susceptible, I don't know.

The intestines contain bacteria. This is normal and helps digest food. If those bacteria translocate out of the gut in to the rest of the body, then you become unwell. To prevent this happening, cellular mechanisms exist to keep the bacteria where it's supposed to be. In death (or even sickness), there is a breakdown of these cellular mechanisms and bacteria can move to other parts of the body. It's for this reason that I want meat and gut separated ASAP from any animal I shoot. Same applies to fish, but since my fish go on ice, this will slow down bacterial translocation and I usually wait until I get home to fillet them. Having said that, if I know I'm going to prepare a fish as sashimi, I get the guts out straight away. The old European ways of leaving an animal "hanging" with the guts in seem pretty crazy to me.