How do you cook your rabbit ?

woodcock

woodcock

New member
I'm looking for a good recipe for snowshoe hair. I've tried roasting them over open fire and it did'nt come out to good. Very gamy tasting and I could'nt finish it. This years rabbit season should be a good one because I've spotted quit a few just driving around. I've heard that the rabbit population goes in cycles. If this being true I would say that were going to have a lot of rabbits this year and I want to be able to enjoy the meat as well as the pelt.
I put this question in "Great white north because you guy's get snowshoes like I do. In the 14 years I've lived here I've never seen a cottontail.
So which way is best to cook'n. Thanks
 
I cook my rabbits with a 55gr v-max and let them slowly simmer on the rocks in the hot Nevada sun. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif Sorry, couldnt resist.
 
I cook my Rabbit just like my Squirrel in a stew.That is the only way I will eat the two.By stewing it takes out alot of the gamey taste and you can also skim the fat from the top of the broth.I like to add chicken base also for taste.Hope this helps,Armond
 
I start with a pressure cooker. I flour the rabbit or squirrel(we call'em limb rats in AL) and brown. Then I add wine, or beer, or both and some water, put the lid on and give it the "15psi for 15minute treatment. Then add the stew ingredients and simmer for awhile until the veggies are done..... Delicious. Grandpa won't need his store teeth for this dish.
bcott
 
Cooking them in a stew is the best way I think. I mix them with other meat though like moose or deer. or I crock pot them with BBQ sauce and other types of meat.
You need to clean them right away for best results. Also when they are shot in the middle to end of winter they taste the worst. Fall?early winter is the best time.
I like hunting them alot, otherwise I wouldnt hunt them cause I think they taste as bad as ducks!
 
Some good advice here. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif I don't know what you shoot yours with, but cleaning immediately is a must. If they are shot with a shotgun and not cleaned right away , they get to marinate in the juices of the intestines. :eek: MMMmmmmmm!

I don't gut mine, I skin, strip the backstraps out and if your rabbits are the same as the ones we have here, I cut all 4 legs off. Actually, just cut all the legs off even if you have more or less than 4. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Then the pressure cooker treatment. It tenderizes everything. I add beer, or wine or whatever is handy.My favorite is Yukon Jack. Sometimes powdered beef base goes in. I don't have hard and fast recipes, I just wing it. Which reminds me. the pressure cooker always goes to moose/deer camp with me. If I get an old grouse or two, a rabbit, a couple of ducks, they all go in the pressure cooker together. there is never anything left at the end of the meal.
BTW, I skin and breast the ducks. I've pretty much quit playing in the guts. I already skip the gutting thing on bears, rabbits and birds, unless I want to do a whole goose in the oven.
This year I'm gonna do my moose and deer without gutting. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
There's some damned good culinary advice here!

I don't kill/eat snowshoe hare unless they're harvested in the early fall. Any later and they taste like what they eat: bark. Anytime between May and late September, you can't see 'em in the brush/grass, and there are other things to do, anyway.

But late September to late October is best. They're 1/2 white in a leaf-free environment. They're easy to spot, and they've just finished eating green grass for the past few months.

Stew, crock, or pressure cook to soften them up. As long as the beast was still eating grass, season the dish to your pleasure.

As a sidenote, get your lynx traps/calls ready. This is the time to hit them.
 
Thanks guys, I have a pressure cooker out in the shed somewhere. Do you drain after cooking and the start the stew in new water? I'm going lobster fishing today (stern man) and I'll check here later. Thanks for the reply's.
 
No, do not throw out the fluids after pressure cooking. Just keep throwing goodies into the pot until it tastes the way you want it. bcott
 
An alternative to the pressure cooker is just plain old slow cooking. I brown them in a cast Iron skillet add one can of cream of mushroom soup, and two cans of water, reduce heat and simmer for 2-3 hours till met starts to fall away from bone. The gravy ain't bad! Also, on good years with a lot of rabbits we save up legs and backs and canned them up in quarts. Pretty good stuff.
 
I boil'em for about 20-30 minutes, seal them in a vaccum packer bag with some seasonings, then take them out roll them in flour and cook'em in the frying pan.

But, me I don't mind the game taste of rabbit (or the bark flavored ones /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif )

Matt and Mark how you to fellas doing?

Todd
 
Throw them in the slow cooker with a good dose of sweet red wine, a cup of apple sauce and some raisins. After a good long cook, take some beef base and make a sauce with the left over juices, fry up some taters and have yourself a good meal. I'm not big on raisins, but you can't even tell they are there after a couple of hours in the slow cooker.
 
There's a lot of good recipes here guy's. Thanks a lot for all the good idea's. Now I just have to pick one to try first. Last year I started using my .22 instead of the shotgun because it makes a mess out of them.
I got a slow cooker I use all the time. I like making my own taco meat by cooking a slab of corned beef untill it's broke down and stringy. I strain it and then warm it back up with a can of refried beans and a dash of chile powder. I rap the meat with some taco cheese in tortillas and bake untill brown then I serve with sour cream. Maybe I could try that with the rabbit some time.
Again, thanks a lot. Joe
 
Hey Todd & Matt.

I'm fine, but doing enough hunting & fishing. My brother-in-law has been doing all the catching, & I'm doing all the processing. Lots of yard work, too.

You guys?
 
not sure on snowshoe, but with cottontails, i clean them real good, and soak them in salt(alot of salt) water overnight..then boil them with water or chicken broth until the meat falls off the bones.

Drain the meat and cook any way you like..I like to cook some noodles, dump the meat in with some gravy, sour cream, chives, onion, and garlic and let that simmer for a hour or two...even my wife loves it!
 
I will bone them out and then marinade the meat in catalina or french dressing overnight and then cook in a hot pan with lots of onions and make fajitas out of them. This technique works fairly well for all gamey animals.
 


Write your reply...
Back
Top