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Rabbit meat is appetizing when nicely cooked. It is likened to chicken meat in terms of taste. Rabbit meat is white and it has good texture; it has a sweet gamey flavor. Rabbit can be stewed, fried, baked in pie or casseroled.

Contents

Stewed Rabbit

Stewing your rabbit is the best since it is lean meat and it has to be slow cooked for it not to toughen. To make stewed rabbit you need 2 and half hours with 25 minutes being preparation time and it can be served with wild rice.

Ingredients

  • Plain flour
  • 2 rabbits
  • 140g prune
  • 1 chopped onion
  • 2 chopped carrots
  • 50g soft brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 50ml brandy
  • 2 chopped celery sticks
  • 2 thyme sprigs
  • 250ml chicken stock
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 150ml red wine

Method

  • Place the prunes in a bowl, add brandy and brown sugar then stir. Set aside and allow these to soak.
  • Dust the rabbit in flour
  • Pour oil in a big skillet or flameproof dish and allow it to heat.
  • Add the rabbit to the oil and allow it to cook until it is golden brown on both sides.
  • Set the rabbit aside and add bacon, vegetables, garlic, and herbs to the skillet. Fry these for 5 minutes until they start to color.
  • Pour in red wine and scrap all the brownness at the bottom of the skillet.
  • Place the rabbit back into the skillet, together with the prunes.
  • Cover the skillet and allow the rabbit to cook for two hours, stirring occasionally and adding water if need be.
  • Serve when the rabbit is tender. As mentioned above you can serve it with wild rice and chopped parsley.

Rabbit Casserole

You can also make a slow cooked rabbit casserole. This will take you 2 hours to prepare and cook.

Ingredients

  • 2 deboned rabbits
  • Rabbi bones
  • Salt
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • Half cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon mirepoix base
  • Ground black pepper
  • Half onion, chopped
  • 1 diced turnip
  • Cubed half pound smoked bacon
  • 2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
  • 2 diced carrots
  • 1 chopped leek
  • 1 tablespoon tomato puree

Method

  • Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C)
  • Season the rabbit bones with mirepoix base and place in a baking dish, most preferably a 9 by 13 inch one.
  • Roast them until they are aromatic and browned.
  • Place the roasted bones to a saucepan, adding enough water to cover them by an inch.
  • Allow the bones to boil and cook over medium high heat until the liquid is reduced by half and this will be rabbit stock.
  • Mix the flour, salt, pepper to make a seasoning flour which you will then use to coat the rabbit pieces.
  • Heat the tablespoon of vegetable oil in the dish you will have used in boiling the rabbit bones.
  • Cook the rabbit pieces over medium high heat. Optionally, you can cook the rabbit pieces in the oven until they are evenly browned on the outside.
  • When well cooked, remove the rabbit pieces and add more oil if necessary, then bacon, carrots, potatoes, onions, leek and turnips to the dish.
  • Place the rabbit pieces over the vegetables.
  • Mix together your homemade rabbit stock and tomato puree and pour into the dish.
  • Cover with aluminum foil and reduce the oven heat to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and bake the rabbit casserole for an hour.
  • When the rabbit casserole is thoroughly cooked, serve it. You can serve it topped with fried bread or croutons.

Fried Rabbit

The common fried rabbit dish you can make is buttermilk fried rabbit, a delicious dish. For this dish, if you are going to use a wild cottontail you have to brine them in a brine of a quarter cup kosher salt and 4 cups water for 8 hours before you fry. A domesticated rabbit need not be brined but if you decide to brine it anyway, do so for not more than 4 hours. Making your fried rabbit will take you 25 minutes, excluding a 4-hour period of making preparations.

Ingredients

  • 2 rabbits cut into serving pieces
  • 1 tablespoon paprika
  • 1 and half cup flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 and half teaspoon oregano
  • 1 and half teaspoon thyme
  • 1 tablespoon dried parsley
  • 2 cups buttermilk
  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  • 2 cups vegetable oil
  • 2 teaspoon cayenne

Method

  • Mix all the spices except salt and flour into buttermilk.
  • Coat the rabbit with the mixture, place in a closed container and allow to sit in fridge overnight or for 4 hours.
  • Pour the vegetable oil in a large frying pan since the oil will half to be half way up the side of the rabbit.
  • Set the heat to medium high.
  • Take the rabbit out of the buttermilk and allow it to drain; do not shake the buttermilk off, simply place the meat pieces aside and let them be.
  • If the oil heat up to 325 degrees F, pour the flour and salt in a plastic bag and shake to combine. Add a few pieces of rabbit meat at a time into the plastic bag with flour.
  • Set the rabbit pieces in the pan with hot oil and fry gently. Fry in batches and do not let the floured pieces sit.
  • When the pieces are golden brown and well cooked, rest them on a rack set over a paper towel to drain away any excess oil. And serve once all this is done.

Why Does Rabbit Need to be Slow Cooked?

Slow cooking is necessary for lean meat. It brings out the intense flavor of your rabbit, leaving you a soft, succulent dish. Slow cooking is also done to tenderize your rabbit for stews. When not cooked well, the rabbit meat can become tough and dry. Rabbit meat does not only require slow cooking only; it has to be cooked at a low heat. Every part of a rabbit is suitable for slow cooking since a rabbit has an energetic lifestyle making rabbit meat high in connective tissues.

Which Flavors to Pair with Rabbit?

Rabbit meat is usually pair well with spices like garlic, rosemary, sage and mustard seeds. Once cooked, you can serve this meat with green vegetables, chocolate sauce, pasta and even cream based sauces.