Anyone cooking rabbit?

I’ve noticed our local Whole Foods has been carrying whole rabbit, and I finally bit on a couple. My older sister married an Italian and she used to cook a lot of rabbits that he raised, always tasted great.

This required watching several youtube videos on butchering whole rabbit, but the process turned out to be pretty simple, two small forelegs, two meatier hind legs, and a saddle. The rest (ribs etc) are supposedly great in a stock, but that’s not me.

I ended up flouring and browning, then a long cook in a crockpot with some veggies and herbs. Because there was more meat than I expected, I split the result. For half, I pulled the finished meat off the bone and made a ragout served over rigatoni.

It all came out better than I expected, definitely will do again. Lapin a moutarde is next!

I make country style pate with braised rabbit shredded into the mix.

I do it à la moutard

Snap Alan. A lovely recipe from Stephanie Alexander’s “Cooking & Travelling in South West France” . Works a treat and is good with chicken.

Farmed or wild?

I’ve mostly had rabbit in Italian restaurants and I’ve been liking it a long time.

Rabbit: The new white meat?
Posted on 02/04/2015 at 4:33 am by Michael Baue~sfgate.com/blog

"Next to foie gras, rabbit is the food product that seems to create a lot of controversy. After all, some people view these cute, fluffy creatures as pets, much like cats and dogs. Despite the fact that some people also keep birds and fish, most diners don’t seem to have the same hang ups about eating them.

It’s probably one of the reasons that rabbit has never been a popular menu item — that is, until recently. It seems in the last few months rabbit has started popping up on more menus in different ways".

Noticed that too. My only reliable source was my CSA but their demand at farmers market is rising so they are harder to come by.

Rabbit is great. Once or twice a year, I butcher a rabbit and a couple ducks. The rabbit and rendered duck fat go into a big batch of rillettes and the duck meat makes a big batch of duck ragu for the freezer. I’ve got a great Spanish rabbit stew recipe also.

Just had some of that duck ragu last night with a Fontodi 06 CC… now I have to have some rabbit rillettes tonight.

there are a couple nice recipes in the Le Pigeon cookbook. If I had a whole rabbit I’d do a marsala or blanquette with the portioned body and a pate’ with the organs.

quarter or otherwise portion rabbit
sautee onions and shallots, adding chx stock and butter then letting evaporate in batches.
deglaze with a dry marsala or similar (if making blanquette, just soften onions, don’t sautee)
season to taste
load sous vide bag with uncooked rabbit and onion mixture

–meanwhile–

in a food processor add rabbit hearts, liver, kidney, any trimmings, and equal parts bacon to a food processor.
add a very cold egg, bit of cognac and a bit of cold cream.
salt and pepper and tarragon
process until course or smooth
line a terrine with plastic wrap, then a bay leaf, spread mixture inside.
seal in a sous vide bag

Load both bags into a water bath at 142F for 2.5 hours.
Shock terrine in ice bath and refrigerate for 3 days at least.

if making blanquette add cream to onion and rabbit mixture, if not, just warm and serve perhaps with wild rice or faro.

more recipes here: http://honest-food.net/wild-game/rabbit-hare-squirrel-recipes/

I cold smoke it first. And then braised it whole in a five spice sauce with some liquorice root. Chill it overnight in the braising liquid and serve it cold.

I also brine the rabbit whole first. Stuff it with roasted chestnuts, dried apricots, dates, dried chanterelles, soaked sticky rice, garlic and rosemary. And then wrap it with a layer of Prosciutto and then with a whole lotus leaf (you can get it in Asian grocery. if not you can use banana leaf or like the hawaiians a taro leaf.) I then steam the whole thing for 3 hours and serve it warm.

Pictures of the ragu?

sounds amazing. I really hope our paths cross sometime. I’ll bring a lighter bodied CdP for the above dish.

Paul
Just send me a PM when you visit Chicago. I think we can set something up.

David

No pictures. It just looks like a ragu with ground meat in it.

I like David’s idea of brining rabbit. I guess it could be a challenge to brown but the meat can get dry even when you add some other fat to the mix.

Search for the rabbit with chocolate sauce recipe in one of the Silver Palate cookbooks. You will not be disappointed.

Yep, and I have made this recipe a few times with success.

k.

this is why I really like the sous vide method. 140 to 145 is the sweet spot.

How long do you sous vide it? I find it is quite easy to over cook rabbit to appoint the meat becomes too soft and lose its texture, when you serve it warm.

David

I like rabbit tagine.