Thread: Rabbit- Ive had enough.

I have been shooting a fair ammpunt of rabbit. I am sick of it. I try slow cooking it, mincing it braising it etc but it always seems to come out chewy and dry (to be expected with such a lean meat).

Inspire me with some new recipes... Please.

Beef and rabbit pie. Use 1 rabbit and 1 cow...

thats a big pie

Try This: Brine cleaned washed rabbit overnight in weak salt brine. Rinse. Divide rabbit into portions - two back legs, two sections of the back, the saddle and the area of the rib cage, which is boned off the ribs with ribs pulled out. Two front legs.
Put the portions into an oven bag with a level tsp of ground Cumin and a tbls of flour. Gently roll to coat. Gently because oven bags cant handle shaking etc. Tie off bag and place in baking dish in oven 140 - 150 for two or so hours.

Brining and then soaking in milk do work really well to both change the texture and stop it drying out. An hour in brine 1 tablespoon salt per litre then an hour in milk full fat not trim then cook.
Have a look at these, the pottedhare is really nice with rabbit and the nuggets taste "just like chicken"

Does anybody Crockpot them?

Originally Posted by Max Headroom

Does anybody Crockpot them?

I do with hares, works a treat, gonna give my most recent rabbits the crock pot treatment and use the stew as pie filling

This is our favourite, a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe

Lapin moutarde à la crème
A fantastic way to enjoy rabbit. Serves six.
1 tbsp olive oil
250g piece salt pork, pancetta or bacon, cut into chunky cubes
2 wild rabbits, skinned and jointed
1 large onion, peeled and thickly sliced
3 large carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
4 celery sticks, roughly chopped
2 bay leaves
1 sprig fresh thyme (optional)
500ml dry or medium-dry cider
1 generous tsp honey
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
200ml double cream
3 tbsp grainy mustard
Heat the oil in a heavy-based frying pan. Gently fry the bacon until lightly browned, then transfer to a large casserole. Brown the rabbit in the same pan in batches, transferring to the casserole as they are done. Sweat the onion in the same pan until soft and translucent, but not coloured, and add to the casserole.
Add the carrots, celery, bay leaves and thyme (if using) to the pot. Push everything around so it's fairly tightly packed, then add the cider; top up with water, if necessary, to cover the meat, then add the honey and season. Bring to a simmer and cook at a very low, tremulous simmer for an hour and a quarter, until the meat is tender but not too flaky (older, tougher animals will take longer).
Transfer the rabbit pieces to a bowl, cover and keep warm while you make the sauce. Strain the stock – I do this first through a colander, then through muslin or a cotton cloth, to get it beautifully clear. In a clean pan, boil the strained stock hard until reduced to a scant 200ml, then whisk in the cream and mustard, and boil for a few minutes more, until thick and glossy. Taste, and adjust with salt, pepper and more mustard. Reheat the rabbit in the sauce, turning to coat the pieces. Serve with mashed potato and any spare sauce spooned over.

Thai rabbit, nice!!

Google "Jamie Oliver rabbit recipes". He's got some goodies, that will surely have you slaughtering many more rabbits.

Originally Posted by Hutch

This is our favourite, a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe

Lapin moutarde à la crème
A fantastic way to enjoy rabbit. Serves six.
1 tbsp olive oil
250g piece salt pork, pancetta or bacon, cut into chunky cubes
2 wild rabbits, skinned and jointed
1 large onion, peeled and thickly sliced
3 large carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
4 celery sticks, roughly chopped
2 bay leaves
1 sprig fresh thyme (optional)
500ml dry or medium-dry cider
1 generous tsp honey
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
200ml double cream
3 tbsp grainy mustard
Heat the oil in a heavy-based frying pan. Gently fry the bacon until lightly browned, then transfer to a large casserole. Brown the rabbit in the same pan in batches, transferring to the casserole as they are done. Sweat the onion in the same pan until soft and translucent, but not coloured, and add to the casserole.
Add the carrots, celery, bay leaves and thyme (if using) to the pot. Push everything around so it's fairly tightly packed, then add the cider; top up with water, if necessary, to cover the meat, then add the honey and season. Bring to a simmer and cook at a very low, tremulous simmer for an hour and a quarter, until the meat is tender but not too flaky (older, tougher animals will take longer).
Transfer the rabbit pieces to a bowl, cover and keep warm while you make the sauce. Strain the stock – I do this first through a colander, then through muslin or a cotton cloth, to get it beautifully clear. In a clean pan, boil the strained stock hard until reduced to a scant 200ml, then whisk in the cream and mustard, and boil for a few minutes more, until thick and glossy. Taste, and adjust with salt, pepper and more mustard. Reheat the rabbit in the sauce, turning to coat the pieces. Serve with mashed potato and any spare sauce spooned over.

That seems like a great recipe. Just thinking that the cream could be replaced with unsweetened yogurt to prevent a coronary.
What many people don't realise is that meat can dry out even when completely immersed in a cooking liquid. This is because the water in the heat concentrating meat evaporates into the cooking liquid. If the cooking liquid has a boil temp higher than water then of course the water in the meat can boil out leaving the meat really dry. This is why a pressure cooker and oven bags work so well - they maintain 'positive pressure' which holds that moisture in the meat. So as (Rabbit) @Hutch says 'bring to a simmer and cook at very low etc' DO NOT BRING TO A BLOODY BOIL AND TURN DOWN - WE ARE NOT COOKING A POT OF SPUDS.

take out backstraps...remove silverskin....same as you do with venison....same method as skinning a trout fillet..... also leg meat....cut into cubes/chunks about 20mm ish..... stick in plastic bag with salt/pepper/steak seasoning/breadcrumbs...shake the shite out of it.... heat pan with a little oil or better still REAL BUTTER.... QUICK fry now coated chunks and eat with tooth picks or forks...warning once the kids try it like this you will never have a moments peace..... mine would eat it faster than it would cook...works with duck or goose too.
they tell me curry powder good too.
best part of this is using the camp oven and cooker out on varander and letting the kids have a part of preparing it.
hare is AWESOME like this...you would think its vennison as taste is the same.

The Lapin à la moutarde et à la crème is one of the most traditional rabbit dish in France.
You can't go wrong with it.
Otherwise you can cook your rabbit pieces into a pot, covered with liquid cream for 3 hours till the meat falls of the bone.
Same reicepe as Normandy hare posted somewhere else.

Stop eating the old tough ones and just eat the young 3/4 grown ones. "runners"
If you insist on eating the full growd ones then the brining and milk treatment are good options .... also let them age a little. You dont eat one day old beef or sheep.
Take the tail glands out too.

My Neighbour pickles them then smokes , they are great hot or cold he just uses back legs & mid section/back straps...one thing he likes to point out is once rabbit is skinned remove the membrane covering the meat no matter how you cook them.