Soaking in vinegar and water is a method of reducing the gamey taste of wild hunted meat. With farm raised rabbit, I doubt such a step is necessary.

For cooking, think of rabbit as an older, skinless chicken. A bit tougher than the young birds we usually get at the store, it requires longer cooking to tenderize. Braising is good, or stewing, or slow roasting with added fat of some kind as rabbit is a lean meat.

I have been a lurker since the days of "SPIKE", just recently signed on. In my youth ( a long time ago) my father would hunt for rabbit. While of course these were wild rabbbits (probably less gamey than farm raised) He would par boil in salted water said rabbit, then saute in butter or bacon grease. DELIISH
However I am sure some others on this forum will have many fancy recipes for you. We were not fancy eaters, my dad just tried to keep us fed.

Do you have a pressure cooker? My favorite rabbit recipe comes from Pressure Cooker Gourmet by Victoria Wise. Do a "search inside this book" on the keyword "rabbit" and find the recipe on pages 101 and 102 for "Rabbit with Fennel Seeds, Parsnips and Prunes in Brandy." OMG: YUM!! Almost as good is pulling all the leftover rabbit off the bone, saving the sauce, adding new vegetables, and fashioning the leftovers into a Rabbit Pot Pie. I'm drooling just thinking about it.

There's another good-looking rabbit recipe in that (awesome) book. If you have a pressure cooker and you're interested, I'll post it later today. I keep meaning to try the other, but every time I bring a rabbit home from the farmer's market, I cook it with the prunes and cream sauce. Hmmm. Maybe it's time to pull that other rabbit out of my freezer!

I've eaten a lot of rabbit, we raised it as a meat item for quite a long time. I know bunnyman (Michael/Lyra) has eaten a lot of rabbit too.

I never soaked the farm raised stuff in anything because we controlled the diet, much like other farm raised animals. Wild rabbits eat a lot of different things and if they are from a swampy area, etc., they can have a different flavor. I wouldn't worry about that in farm raised rabbits at all.

We usually made rabbit stew, or fried it like chicken. Occasionally it got baked in sauce. I don't suggest putting into a crockpot, though, I did that and it fell apart and rabbit has a LOT of little tiny bones. (grin)

We did make hassenpfeffer, because one of the neighbor ladies was from Germany and showed Grandma how. The rabbit gets marinated in a vinegar mixture, then stewed. I don't have a recipe anymore, but this one is close to the one we used, thanks to Charlotte.

HASSENPFEFFER
(From All Recipes)

Servings: 6

1 large onion, sliced
3 cups white vinegar
3 cups water
1 tablespoon pickling spice
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 bay leaves
8 whole cloves
1 (2 1/2 pound) rabbit, skinned, cut into
serving-size pieces
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 cup sour cream

1. In a large bowl (don't use metal because of the vinegar!) combine onion, vinegar, water and seasonings. Add rabbit pieces; cover and refrigerate for 48 hours, turning occasionally. Remove meat; strain and reserve marinade. Dry meat well; coat lightly with flour. In a skillet, melt butter; brown meat well. Gradually add 2 to 2-1/2 cups reserved marinade. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until tender, about 30 minutes. Remove meat to a warm platter. Add sour cream to pan juices; stir just until heated through. Spoon over the meat and serve immediately.

It's pretty good....

Annie

Thanks for the help and the recipes! I do have a pressure cooker so I will look up those recipes. There were several good sounding recipes also on the Ciao Italia web site.

Maybe Hassenpfeffer should be the first recipe I try since it is a classic?

I knew you'd post Michelle! I thought about the recipe (that's it isn't it?) you and I talked about when you were here, this past weekend. I still can't turn the oven and stove on (no A/C), but when I do, I will be cooking up a storm.

It's a drier meat than chicken, so it can dry out quickly if you overcook it; I prefer to braise it or pressure cook it. Done well, though, and it's fantastic.

One other recipe you might consider is 'lapin en gibelotte'--it's a classic French dish that is really easy. It's rabbit braised with white wine, bacon and mushrooms. There are lots of recipes on the Web; the link is to one which is representative.

Here is a link that might be useful: lapin en gibelotte

OK, I'm home now. The other rabbit recipe in this cook book looks like a cousin of Arley's. You can't pull it up through Amazon, so here goes (Dear publisher, please forgive me for posting the recipe if I say the book is worth buying if you own a pressure cooker!):

Rabbit Braised with Fresh Bacon, Onion and White Wine

• 1/2 TBSP olive oil

• 4 oz fresh bacon or blanched salt pork cut into 1/2x1-inch pieces

• 1 rabbit (about 2.5 lbs) cut into 6 pieces

• 1 med-sized white onion, halved and sliced 3/4 inch thick

• 1 carrot, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch-thick diagonal slices

• 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme, or 1/2 tsp dried

• 1/2 tsp salt (optional)

• 1/2 cup dry white wine

• 2 TBSP Dijon mustard

• 1/4 cup water

• 2 TBSP chopped fresh plat-leaf parsley, for garnish

1. Heat the oil in the pressure cooker over med-high heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until beginning to soften, 4-5 mins.

2. Add the rabbit pieces ant saute until beginning to turn golden, about 5 mins.

3. Stir in the onion, carrot, thyme, and salt, if using. Add the wine, mustard and water and stir to mix well. Lock the lid and bring to pressure over high heat, about 2 mins. Reduce the heat to med-high and cook for 10 mins. Remove from heat and let sit for 10 mins to finish cooking.

4. With the steam vent pointed away from your face, gently release any remaining pressure. Arrange rabbit, bacon, and vegetables on a serving platter. Taste the sauce, adjust the salt, and pour the sauce over the rabbit and vegetables. Sprinkle the parsley over the top and serve right away.

After typing that out, I think I've got no choice but to thaw a bunny and make this for dinner tomorrow night! I'll substitute homemade pancetta or guanciale (haven't decided yet) for the salt pork.

Robin, of COURSE I had to post a link to the bunny, parsnip and prune recipe, and yes, it is the one I talked about when I was in Nashville. It's awesome!

Rabbit is on sale most days in the supermarket meat departments here as well as the farmers' markets and I used to make it a lot using a French recipe for Rabbit with Onion. I also have a Mallorquin recipe I used where the rabbit was cut in pieces and cooked slowly in a sauce in an earthenware cazuela with green beans and small potatoes added near the end.

Unfortunately my computer is still away in the repair shop so I don't have these recipes at hand, but I was a convert to rabbit with onion after trying it the first time on a trip to France many years ago. If I get my computer back in the next days I'll add the recipes to this thread.

SharonCb

This is my mom's recipe:

A whole rabbit (cut up in pieces)
a few cloves of garlic
one onion finely sliced
two tomatoes
a bouquet garni, [parsley, thyme, bay leaf]
a few slices of bacon
a cup of chicken broth
Spanish sherry or Asti Spumante
two tablespoons of cream
In a baking dish, cover bottom with the onion and bouquet garni, [salt, pepper to taste, but not too much because the bacon is salty].
Make small cuts in the rabbit and stuff the holes with slivers of garlic.
Put the rabbit on top of the onion and herbs and cover with bacon slices. Season to taste.
Peel tomatoes and cut into small pieces. Place around the rabbit.
In a measuring cup, mix two tablespoons of flour with chicken broth and a bit of Spanish sherry or asti spumante to make approximately a cup. Add two spoonfuls of cream. Pour around the rabbit in the pan and cook at 375 degrees for an hour and a half.

Jazmynsmom, that recipe looks wonderful! But what is "fresh" bacon? bacon that has not been smoked? I don't know that I can find that in my little 'burb - what do you use or what could I sub?

I'd love the rabbit with onion recipe, SharonCb, anytime you can post it!

Thanks all - lots of great sounding recipes for "lapin."

Teresa, look for fresh bacon, or "side pork" as it's more commonly called around here.

Annie

Rabbit always tasted like a sweet chicken to me. My grandfather, whose cousin had a rabbit farm, would bread the pieces and fry it up in a cast iron skillet. When I cook it, I usually stick it in the crock pot, cover it with red wine, add onions, potatoes and carrots, and cook it on low for 6 to 8 hours. Delish and simple! Too bad the store that carries it, upon request, charge so much money for it! After all, rabbits procreate like, well, rabbits! Should be a cheap source of meat, but it isn't.

Remember this one??

Here is a link that might be useful: I WANT HASENPHEFFER!

Sooz:
I was waiting for someone to say it tastes like Chicken LOL!!
Lou

It looks like chicken but tastes like a pork chop. A short grained meat so have toothpicks available. Most anything 5lbs and under for "meat" rabbits and 4lbs for non-meat breeds will be a fryer... meaning fairly young tender rabbit. 5 to 10lbs and you are looking at a stewer.

Older rabbits are tougher so they are better stewed. Hassenpheffer comes in both brown and white versions. Basically stewed rabbit with vinegar added to taste. Meat, veggies, and gravy for a simple classic "stew".

Probably going to be 5 or 6 parts... 4 legs and a back that is sometimes cut in two. Hind legs are generally a huge portion. If making hassenpheffer I'd bone it out and don't include the ribs which resemble large fish bones a bit. Looks like chicken, tastes like pork, and bones like a fish. : ) Don't worry about the leg bones as they tend to be large enough to find. If home butchering find the joints with a boning knife... it should all come apart without cutting bone unless you split the back.

Being your first time I'd think you might try simply frying it. Best way to get a taste of rabbits. Fried in bacon grease is my favorite. Noted to be thick so brown, cover, and finish... watch that you don't boil it. Farm raised meat can have significantly more natural juices then store bought... just ain't had time to dry out.

well... I'm running late for work again. Good luck. I don't see much problem. Like chicken the flesh will turn from pink to white when it is cooked. A quick rinse under cold water watching for hair... not as big a deal as deer. If you get the belly meat it fries like bacon and is the best part of a rabbit. Really fresh rabbits grills nice if the natural juices have not drained out of the meat.

: )
lyra