Rabbit

kylith

My brother, the hunter, thrust a rabbit at me earlier and I'm looking for some ideas on how to cook it. It's been skinned and is currently soaking in salted water as per my dad's instructions. I'm looking for something that'll make it melt in the mouth because any time I've had rabbit in restaurants I've found it quite dry.

Any ideas?

oldrnwisr

kylith wrote: »

My brother, the hunter, thrust a rabbit at me earlier and I'm looking for some ideas on how to cook it. It's been skinned and is currently soaking in salted water as per my dad's instructions. I'm looking for something that'll make it melt in the mouth because any time I've had rabbit in restaurants I've found it quite dry.

Any ideas?

Here's one for you kylith.

Rabbit Rillettes

Start by jointing the rabbit into about six pieces. Confit the rabbit in sunflower oil infused with a large chopped onion. Once the rabbit is cooked, remove from the oil and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Pick the meat from the bones and add to a mixer with a k-beater attachment or a food processor (use pulse only). Add some grated raw garlic, a decent grind of black pepper and a pinch of mace. Beat/Pulse until the consistency is that of a coarse pate. It will keep for about a week in the fridge in a preserve jar.


Apart from this, I usually use rabbit anywhere I use chicken so curries, stews, even pasta ...

Squirrel Ragu
By Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Serves 3 as a main course, 6 as a starter

4 wild squirrels, jointed into 3 (fore limbs, saddles & rear limbs)
2 tablespoons rapeseed or olive oil
4 streaky bacon rashers, chopped, or about 100g home-cured bacon belly
2 carrots, roughly sliced
2 celery stalks, sliced
1 onion, sliced
2 bay leaves
A few sprigs of thyme
A few black peppercorns
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1kg tomatoes, skinned, deseeded and roughly chopped, or 2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
Glass of white wine (Or cider would work really well)
Water or chicken or game stock, to cover
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Season the squirrel pieces well with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large saucepan, add the bacon and brown over a medium-high heat. Then add the squirrel and cook, turning frequently, until browned all over.
Stir in the carrots, celery and onion and let them take a little colour too. Add the bay leaves, thyme, peppercorns, garlic, tomatoes, wine and just enough water or stock to cover everything. Bring to a very low simmer and cook uncovered, or partially covered, very gently (or with the lid on in the oven preheated to 140C/gas mark 1) for about 2 hours, until the squirrel is very tender.
After this long slow simmer take the squirrel out of the sauce. Strain the liquid into a clean pan, pushing hard through a sieve, so that the tender vegetables go through the tomatoey liquor. It should be rich and flavoursome as it is, but reduce it for more intensity. Pull the meat of the bones in chuck and shreds wasting nothing. Return the squirrel to the sauce and bring back to the simmer and finish by stirring in a knob of butter.

DonnchaMc

Theres a sticky in the Hunting section of boards with tonnes of differnt recipes for all game, rabbits included... have used a few myself and have been great.... as said earlier rabbit can be used for currys etc but the main thing to keep in mind with rabbit is it needs to be cooked slowly, it will only dry out and be tough otherwise


Go to Sports- Shooting- Hunting, and the the first sticky is recipes.. the last page has recently had a new recipe posted

30Min

Buy a slow cooker.

My partner puts anything he's shot in there and it comes out tender as

kylith

DonnchaMc wrote: »

Theres a sticky in the Hunting section of boards with tonnes of differnt recipes for all game, rabbits included... have used a few myself and have been great.... as said earlier rabbit can be used for currys etc but the main thing to keep in mind with rabbit is it needs to be cooked slowly, it will only dry out and be tough otherwise


Go to Sports- Shooting- Hunting, and the the first sticky is recipes.. the last page has recently had a new recipe posted

Thanks for that. Have checked it out and found one that sounds good.

30Min wrote: »

Buy a slow cooker.

My partner puts anything he's shot in there and it comes out tender as

I have one, but I have to sneak food in and out of it as OH thinks it makes stuff stringy :rolleyes:

DonnchaMc

kylith wrote: »

Thanks for that. Have checked it out and found one that sounds good.

No problem, best of luck with the bunny.... They really can be a great meal and are surprisingly filling considering how small the portions can look

kylith

I slow cooked the rabbit with 3/4 pint chicken stock, carrots, potatoes, thyme, and a bay leaf. Honestly, it was nowhere near as tender as I'd have liked, but that was made up for by the taste of the resulting soup after being thickened slightly with flour and butter.

I'd probably cook it in the oven in future in more liquid, but overall I was very happy with it.

DonnchaMc

kylith wrote: »

I slow cooked the rabbit with 3/4 pint chicken stock, carrots, potatoes, thyme, and a bay leaf. Honestly, it was nowhere near as tender as I'd have liked, but that was made up for by the taste of the resulting soup after being thickened slightly with flour and butter.

I'd probably cook it in the oven in future in more liquid, but overall I was very happy with it.

How long did u cook it for? I used to have the same problem till i heard its best cooked for nearly 3hours maybe2 ( i can find out). since then its always been realy soft and very tasty. it gets rid of that "blood taste" (if thats how u cld describe it) and your left with a lovely soft meat...

Also i dont have a slow cooker, just boil it and then reduce down to simar for the few hours

kylith

I slow cooked it for 4 hours, refridgerated it overnight, then cooked it for another 2 hours the next day. I meant to eat it on day 1, but OH had to stay in work late.

stick girl

2 ways that are really great. 1st confit the rabbit. sprinkle with salt and leave for an hour or so. using sunflower oil as oldrnwisr suggested, or if you have it, duck fat, use onion, or take cloves of garlic (don't peel) cut in half, add to oil/fat with a few (spice)cloves and whole peppercorns and simmer till meat is falling off bone. Instead of picking meat off, take a little of the fat and saute legs etc in pan till crispy..this will be like the preparation for duck confit. really really good with rabbit.
Next up (and this is my grandmothers recipe) season the meat with S&P and coat with flour Saute till brown then cover with stock and cook till tender. remove meat and add heaping tablespoon (more if you like) of course ground mustard. reduce till proper consistency of a sauce and serve over rice....delish