First time cooking Rabbit...need AMAZING recipe!!!

[nstone630]

ok....so my kids aren't all that excited about eating these cute cuddly little animals. SOOOO....I need to make sure I cook it the first time and it taste AMAZING!!!! I have to win the kids over the first time if I'm EVER going to get them to even try it again.

ANY IDEAS?????

 

[elevan]

My favorite and easy way to cook rabbit is to put it into the crock pot for the day. Then I'll pull the meat off and add BBQ sauce and have pulled rabbit sandwiches.

 

[nstone630]

YUMMY. and our kids LOVE BBQ. I'll run that by the hubby

 

[nawma]

I make rabbit and dumplins that are a huge hit. Also love rabbit enchiladas and rabbit stew. Let your rabbit sit in fridge for 24 hours after harvest before you cook it. Gets you past the rigor stage in the meat and makes it much more tender.

 

[nstone630]

oh man. that sounds yummy too.

Should I let it sit in lets say salt water? or milk in the fridge?

we process our deer meat and we usually soak that in milk in the fridge for a night. Fish we soak in salt water...but this is our first go round with Rabbit...any tips on that?

And what about cooking it whole? Frying it?

 

[nawma]

Rabbit meat is not gamey so I would not bother with the milk. Brine is recommended in some cookbooks but I belive most people here agree with me that brining is not necessary. As long as it rests for about 24 hours your meat will be tender. I cook my rabbits whole for all recipes except frying in which case I cut it up to make frying easier. It is also very tasty on the grill with whatever sauce you like. I cut mine up for grilling.
Ts

 

[elevan]

Brining isn't needed for rabbit.

 

[nstone630]

Well we slaughtered our first one last night. The process was pretty easy. My husband did it, as he is much more talented in skinning an animal. We are avid hunters, but he does most of the "dirty work". It was a very clean process as well, only took about 5 minutes to skin the rabbit and a few to cut it up and get it resting for awhile. Very simple, and even the kids were involved, and didn't mind the sight.

I think we will fry it. But, now they are 11 weeks old. And I found that there is not much meat on them at all. Their fur is quite decieving.

Any tips on plumping these little suckers up? We have a household of 6, 4 of them growing kids and if this is the size they will be, it will take 3 rabbits a night to feed us all.

 

[VickieB]

nstone, how much did your bunny weigh at dispatch date?

 

[nmred]

To help my family get over the "but they're so cute" factor, we ground the meat from the first several rabbits we butchered (that way you can't tell what it is ). Use like you would ground turkey or chicken. Makes great burgers! After you get to like the taste, it doesn't matter what "form" it's in.