I have never cooked one, but found this site with some recipes that look pretty good.

My husband grew up in the country, he said his mama boiled it to make it tender and then fried it and served with gravy.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wabbit :)

I'm sure Annie and Michael/Lyra will have some great ideas..

or where's Nancy of the North when you need her?

No thank you very much though..LOL
I had rabbit once..and that's all it took..it was "passed" off as chicken..didn't taste like any chicken I'd had..and then later found out it was one of my favorite rabbits that I snuggled and cuddled at my friends house!!!

Terri

When I was a wee child, I spent summers with my Aunt Lucy down in Knoxville, TN. Her husband had the most beautiful rabbits and I would listen for his step in the morning so I could go with him to feed them.

Well it just so happens, Aunt Lucy made the most wonderful breakfasts you could imagine. Fried chicken, gravy and big fluffy biscuits ... yummy !

It was years later that I found out I was eating those beautiful bunnies ... LOL ! They did not have the heart to tell me.

I have never cooked one, but have eaten them and like it. While it has been several years,I do recall that the hostess let it soak in milk overnight to tenderize it and to remove some of the gamey flavors. This being in Chicago, I cannot imagine tht it was a wild rabbit. I also recall she pan sauteed it, as you would a chicken.

I have recently seen them in the markets here and was very tempted to buy one. Trouble is they remind me of a cat, and I need to get over that image.

Curious to see responses.

Peppi

Here's the way I always cook rabbit. Me and my 14 kids just love it. Guess we're lucky, we have rabbit quite often, some we hunt with bow and arrow and some we find by the roadside....

Anyway, after you clean it up and skin it, rinse it real well...we do ours in the stream that's near our cabin. Usually 1 rabbit will weigh about 2# after cleaning.

Rub the body cavity with about 1 1/2 tsp of salt and a little pepper.

Stuff the body cavity with about 2 onions that have been sliced and lay 3 strips of bacon over the rabbit.

Wrap the whole thing with aluminum foil and roast at 350 for about 1 1/2 hrs.

You can roast it in the oven if you have one, but we don't, so we just roast it in the fire pit. We have it this way all the time. The kids all love it and we cook as many as we can get. Never goes to waste.

I know I haven't been around too much lately but it's a long walk to my friends house that has a computer. I've peeked in here from time to time. I don't cook any of these fancy foods that most of you do, but we do ok, livin' off the land and there's been lot's of road kill this year.

Some people came by a few weeks ago (they keep checking on the kids) and they we amazed at the amount of food we have stored up to get thru the winter. They keep trying to get us to move into some kind of Gov't housing, but I think we are much better off out here in the woods in our little one-room cabin. We've got everything we need and I make sure the kids get their schooling.....

Well, gotta go, I'm cooking venison fur supper tonight...

Nancy of the North

Size and age!

Young domestic meat rabbits weigh about 2.5lbs dressed out at 90 days old. Older animals can go over 5lbs dressed out. Old rabbits are not fit for much other then stewing as they get very tough. Young rabbit is tender enough for frying or grilling. New Zealand White and Californian are the most commonly raised "meat" rabbits as they have thin bones with lots of muscle mass but any breed will eat just fine. Wild rabbits are usually smaller and tougher with a bit darker meat.

There are basically 5 main pieces to a cooking rabbit. Four legs and the back. The back can be split in two with a heavy knife but I always just cooked it as a big chunk... man sized portion if you will. Depending on how it was butchered there may be a couple small belly pieces. Trim these from the rabbit and fry on the edge of the pan until crisp like bacon... cooks treat! The heart, liver, and kidneys are edible. I used to cook the liver for small kids that were to young to know they don't like liver... no bones to pick out.

Assuming you have some younger rabbits...

Fry it just like chicken! The flesh will be pinkish when raw and turn firm white when cooked just like chicken does. Any coating or sauce you like with chicken will work wonderful with rabbit. Because rabbit legs can be fairly thick adding a bit of liquid and cooking covered for a few minutes helps make certain they are cooked all the way. Rabbit does look much like chicken but tastes slightly sweeter... more like pork then chicken.

As for gravy. After frying the rabbit put a spoon of butter or bacon grease and some liquid in the frying pan... water works but you could also use wine or coffee. Stir around while it heats up to get any pan drippings loose. Once it starts to simmer good pour in a little corn starch water while stirring and it should thicken up after simmering for a couple minutes. A couple drops of Kitchen Bouquet won't hurt but ain't necessary. I make corn starch water by stirring a spoon full of corn starch into a glass of water. You don't have to add it all! Just some until your gravy thickens. Keep stirring while you add it and you won't get lumps. The gravy can be further doctored up with pepper, giblets, mushrooms, onions, or garlic if you like.

Only real difference between cooking rabbit and chicken is that rabbit pieces tend to be thicker. Watch the front legs as they are much thinner then the other three parts. If no one is watching you can munch those while waiting for the thicker parts to finish. If after cooking it a thick part seems a bit under done it can be fixed by nuking in a microwave... but that makes it get tough fast.

Hasenpfeffer is a rabbit stew using lots of pepper and a little vinegar. There are both brown and cream versions.

This was a wild rabbit. I probably had already eaten the other front leg.
{{!gwi}}

: )
lyra

Thanks Nancy, Lyra. Ohiomom, thanks for the link.

I have no idea what size or age they are, or what breed. I just hope they are tasty, LOL!!!

Domestic rabbits are much plumper and "whiter" than wild. So usually, no soaking is required.

I dredge in flour, salt and pepper, paprika, and a bit of sage. Then sear in hot fat until browned all over. Place some parboiled baby potatoes (or larger potatoes sliced) and onions in a pan. Season with salt and pepper.

Place the rabbit pieces in a single layer atop the vegetables. Add some wine to the pan to deglaze, then pour this over the chicken pieces.

Roast in the oven until the rabbit is cooked through and the potatoes are done. This can be anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour, depending. I like a slower oven for this and a longer cook time (say 350-375 for an hour).

I agree, rabbit can be cooked much like chicken. My girls sometimes complained that the bones were so small that they were hard to "pick out" if the rabbit were stewed with the bones left in.

Our favorite was just pan-fried but we sometimes have rabbit stew with biscuits or a hunter's style rabbit dish where the rabbit is browned then simmered in a sauce made of homecanned tomatoes, onions and seasonings.

We butchered ours young, so they were seldom tough and always quite mild. Wild rabbits are a little more of a challenge to cook.

Annie

Go for it Dawn! Throw it in a hot greased pan with a little s&p.

I developed a craving for mustard greens and black-eyed peas with my rabbit. Few drops of vinegar on the greens and you have a rabbit dinner worth remembering. In fact the local rabbits are in trouble now because you got me thinking a rabbit would taste real good. They seem to be everywhere until I step outside with my rifle... then all is quiet. Active fox den down the road so I have to get one before they are all gone.

: )
lyra

yeah... I can shoot straight even in heels

LOL, Lyra. If you see one bunny, there are a dozen somewhere you don't see!

And I can also shoot straight in heels, although I'm too soft, I can't kill anything. I can clean them, skin them, whatever, but I just can't bring myself to kill them. Go figure.....

Annie

I am definetly going to try this. Do you guys want pics? I'll definetly let you know how it all turns out. : )

Dawn Of course we want pictures. I like rabbit and have cooked it a few times. But it isn't a favourite of Moes. The rabbit livers are really delicious too. Similar to chicken livers but even milder. When we lived in Nanaimo there was a restaurant that we would go to occasionally and I always ordered the rabbit livers as an appetizer.

Ann

In France they make them with a mustard sauce. Some areas also stew them with prunes. I made rabbit gumbo earlier this year. It was yummy. I went to the market in Belgium the other day. They had whole rabbits. The ears turned me off a bit.

So ok, I'll post pics. Be patient though, because I am cooking the rabbit for Christmas. :)

I just had a memory of when my MIL was still alive. She had cooked rabbit for *gulp* Easter. My nephew was SO upset, as he was certain she had caught and cooked the Easter Bunny.

My grandmother cooked the wild rabbits that my GF killed. It only took me one tasting to know I didn't like them at all. I haven't tried the domestic ones.

Here's a recipe from Canadian Living Cooks.

Rabbit with White Wine

1/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 (2 lbs. each) rabbit, each cut in 6 pieces
3 Tbsp butter
3 cloves garlic, smashed
2 onion, diced
2 celery, stalks, diced
2 small carrot, diced
1 cup white wine
2 cup chicken stock
2 Tbsp chopped fresh Italian parsley

In plastic bag combine flour, salt and pepper. In batches, add rabbit and shake to coat, reserving any flour mixture.

In large shallow Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons (25 mL) of the oil over medium-high heat; brown rabbit, in batches and adding remaining oil as necessary, about 10 minutes. Transfer to plate.

Reduce heat to medium. Melt butter in pan; cook garlic, stirring, for 1 minute or until golden. Discard garlic. Add onions, celery and carrots; cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until softened. Sprinkle with any reserved flour mixture; cook, stirring, for 1 minute.

Stir in white wine and bring to boil, scraping up any brown bits; boil for 2 minutes or until reduced by half. Add stock; bring to boil. Return rabbit to pan; reduce heat, cover and simmer for 40 minutes or until tender and juices run clear when rabbit is pierced. Transfer rabbit to platter.

Boil sauce for about 5 minutes or until reduced to 3 cups (750 mL). Sprinkle parsley over rabbit; serve with sauce.