BS: rabbit stew

Subject: BS: rabbit stew
From: GUEST,olddude
Date: 08 Dec 13 - 07:38 PM

my big old fat lab dog mix just went outside and chased down the biggest cotton tail rabbit I seen in years. Brought it over to me. Nailed it right behind the head .. I gonna have some rabbit stew or some other recipe anyone got a good one to share?

my dog .. look what I got for you .. he was all proud .. well I don't waste anything and heck haven't had a great rabbit in a long time

Subject: RE: BS: rabbit stew
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 08 Dec 13 - 08:19 PM

Enjoy!

When I was still married, my husband, his dad, and I went to a Portuguese restaurant in New Bedford, MA. A rabbit dish was on the menu. Being a person who will try most foods once, I ordered it. My father-in-law, who was a good, gentle man, said, " I like seeing rabbits running through my yard." The meal was okay, but it probably would have been better if he hadn't said that!

Subject: RE: BS: rabbit stew
From: GUEST,olddude
Date: 08 Dec 13 - 08:48 PM

I like rabbits also, like to watch them. I use to hunt but not anymore but I won't waste it. I normally batter them and fry them very good

Subject: RE: BS: rabbit stew
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Dec 13 - 09:32 PM

Here's one that looks super-yummy:

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/braised_rabbit_with_prunes/

But the best I've ever had was simply pan-fried under a brick, lots of salt and pepper and some kind of garlicky marinade.

Dani

Subject: RE: BS: rabbit stew
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Dec 13 - 09:41 PM

Wabbit stew!

Subject: RE: BS: rabbit stew
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 08 Dec 13 - 10:28 PM

Cotton tails are generally tender and mild flavored regardless of age/size. Lots of ways to prepare them, and mostly good although I wouldn't want them as a steady diet.

The jackrabbits more common in my area are mostly useful as a counter for the greasy slime from the cheap meats used by some chili fanatics, and have the consistency of a handlful of chopped up rawhide boot laces - just the thing needed in some chili recipes.

Both kinds of (wild) rabbits/hares in my area (the entire US) are susceptable to infection with tularemia, and in the US some caution is recommended in handling the animals and uncooked meat. The risk of human infection isn't particularly high, but remains common enough to merit awareness if you handle wild animals or are where some tick varieties are common. Infection in a variety of animals, including cats and most rodents are known, so those with pets exposed to wildlife should be aware of the symptoms, or at least mention your animals' "hunting habits" if a mysterious illness takes them to the vet.

John

Subject: RE: BS: rabbit stew
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Dec 13 - 10:34 PM

So...tularemia was Elmer Fudd's problem. I always wondered.

(Yes, we have both cottontails and jackrabbits around here.)

Subject: RE: BS: rabbit stew
From: GUEST,olddude
Date: 08 Dec 13 - 10:58 PM

back in the early 90's my buddy Garry and I would go back of his farm and limit out on them. We always pan fried with batter .. we only have cotton tail around here no jack rabbits. There is just so much food for them apple orchards , corn, grapes berries everything gets so big. The deer are huge. This rabbit slipped under my fence and my big dog was waiting. brought it right to the door all proud of himself.nice big fat rabbit. perfect

Subject: RE: BS: rabbit stew
From: gnu
Date: 08 Dec 13 - 11:44 PM

How odd is that! I was bee-bobbin along up ta yer Sobeys and seen this odd lookin thing in the frozen food stuff today. Rabbit! Rabbit??? WTF? A regular scrawny rabbit for... NO SHIT...$26.59. I used ta sell em for 20p, 50p a brace back in the late 60s. And, I had ta snowshoe my line at 5AM and 4PM every day. Gave it up one day and I won't tell the story why... made me cry. But, $27 fer a fuckin scrawny rabbit in a GROCERY STORE??? Yuppies must die!

Subject: RE: BS: rabbit stew
From: Joe Offer
Date: 09 Dec 13 - 01:02 AM

I think I've eaten rabbit a couple of times in my life, the last time at a fancy restaurant on Long Island in September. It sure had a lot of little bones in it, and the meat didn't come off those bones very easily. Made me wonder why people would want to spend all that money for all those bones. To me, it seemed like eating duck - not worth all the effort.

I don't think I'll be eating rabbit any time soon, unless I find myself at a restaurant that is known to have really good hasenpfeffer. I've always wanted to try hasenpfeffer, although I'm be happy with a taste and not a $40 dinner.

The "Game" section of my Joy of Cooking cookbook is only 6 pages long, but it makes very interesting reading. It's right after the section on chitterlings, pigs' ears, coskscombs, pigs' feet, oxtails, and head cheese - not to mention tripe, lamb fries (prairie oysters, aka lamb testicles), Calf or lamb head, tongue, kidneys and braised heart slices.

The "Game" section covers mostly rabbit, but also opossum, porcupine, raccoon, muskrat, woodchuck, beaver (use young animals only), beaver tail, armadillo, venison (deer, moose, or elk), bear, peccary, wild boar, and stuffed boar's head.

Hasenpfeffer, says the cookbook, is just a simple rabbit stew with onion, celery, carrots, and a variety of savory spices. Dip the rabbit in flour and fry it in bacon fat before adding it to the stew. Hasenpheffer, by the way, is also known as rabbit a la mode - but I don't think that means it needs ice cream.

This recipe for hasenpfeffer includes red wine and sour cream, and sounds quite tasty.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: rabbit stew
From: Ebbie
Date: 09 Dec 13 - 01:32 AM

My family used to make a rabbit/horsemeat stew. Equal parts. One horse, one rabbit. :)

Subject: RE: BS: rabbit stew
From: Joe Offer
Date: 09 Dec 13 - 01:46 AM

Best laugh I've had all day, Ebbie.

(not much to laugh at here - our pipes are frozen)

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: rabbit stew
From: Spot
Date: 09 Dec 13 - 04:02 AM

Hallooo everybody :-)

4 servings per rabbit


Arrange in a tinfoil pouch one rabbit joint wrapped in bacon with one 5" browned Cumberland sausage, loads of onion, good pinch of Herbs de Provence, and a good glug of brandy or whisky. Fold over and seal pouch, cook in pre -heated (180F) oven for a couple of hours or until meat is to you liking....

Enjoy..

Regards to all...Spot

Subject: RE: BS: rabbit stew
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 09 Dec 13 - 04:19 AM

Ebbie, Sounds like a joke I was told in France in the 1960s - When asked how he managed to make his lark paté so cheaply the local butcher admitted that he did use some horsemeat, the recipe was half and half: 'un cheval, une alouette, un cheval, une alouette ...'.

As for rabbit: red or rosé wine, and plenty of garlic.

Subject: RE: BS: rabbit stew
From: Will Fly
Date: 09 Dec 13 - 05:31 AM

We lived on rabbit after the war (WW2) because it was easy to get and very cheap. My mum would joint it and bake the parts in breadcrumbs. Delicious, though some people don't care for the taste.

I forget exactly when but, sometime in the 1950s, there was a huge outbreak of myxomatosis in the UK and rabbits became scarcer and not very much in fashion! I believe it was started on purpose by or for farmers to decrease a huge rabbit population. Then it became a dish that was hardly ever eaten. It's back on the tables more these days, and still easy to get for very little if you live in a rural-ish area like I do.

Actually, the fact that a rabbit has myxomatosis doesn't mean it's dangerous to eat - but it's not exactly appetising to look at. If ever I see one suffering on a country walk - and the disease still occurs occasionally - I break its neck and put it out of its misery.

Hope that doesn't put you off your feed, Dan! :-)

Subject: RE: BS: rabbit stew
From: GUEST,Ed T
Date: 09 Dec 13 - 05:43 AM

Hasenpfeffer!

Subject: RE: BS: rabbit stew
From: Jack Campin
Date: 09 Dec 13 - 06:31 AM

I thought the reason rabbits were unfashionable in the UK was that they were associated with poverty and austerity, from the Depression through WW2. (Around here the association seems to go back to the Miners' Strike of 1926).

Subject: RE: BS: rabbit stew
From: Will Fly
Date: 09 Dec 13 - 07:02 AM

I've no idea whether they were unfashionable, Jack - too young to know at that time - but we ate them regularly up in Glasgow in the late 1940s. I remember them in the butcher's shop, paunched and hanging by their feet with the skins round their necks. When mum bought a couple, he'd chop the heads and skins off at the neck and weigh and wrap the carcases.

I wonder whether that still goes on in old-fashioned butcheries? On a minor thread drift, I also remember (from the same period) butter being cut from huge blocks, weighed and patted into shape by the grocer before being wrapped in greaseproof paper and tied with string. Also - most fascinating of all to a small boy - fish laid on huge gleaming blocks of ice in a fishmonger's window open to the street. Flies buzzing everywhere.

A bit of a far cry from the supermarkets of today...

Subject: RE: BS: rabbit stew
From: Stu
Date: 09 Dec 13 - 07:41 AM

I've eaten rabbit my entire life, it's one of my favourite meats. My dad's mate used to go shooting rabbits and pigeons so we had a good supply when we were kids, and the market in our town often has rabbit pie and I buy it when I can.

I made a great venison stew last week, as our local farm shop has good local venison (large herds of Red Deer in the area). I made it with Juniper berries and it turns out that us Britons have been eating venison with Juniper for thousands of yeas as have the Navajo with elk (basically the same thing), two very similar recipes separated by half a world.

Game is the traditional food of our islands, and it's a shame so many people turn their nose up at food their ancestors would have eaten as often as they could.

Subject: RE: BS: rabbit stew
From: Allan C.
Date: 09 Dec 13 - 10:46 AM

The best recipe I ever heard about began: "First you steal a rabbit." It seems, though, that you already have that part covered. There is some great advice above. The thing to bear in mind is that rabbits have very little fat on them, thus the addition of some bacon to cover can be a real plus if you are roasting it.

If I may digress a bit on the topic of rabbit fat for a moment I would like to add that the lack of fat on them is responsible for the term, "rabbit starvation". There are records of people who attempted to live off a steady diet of rabbits, but apparently all did not go well.

Subject: RE: BS: rabbit stew
From: gnu
Date: 09 Dec 13 - 11:30 AM

"Best laugh I've had all day, Ebbie."

Ditto! Hahahahaaa!

Subject: RE: BS: rabbit stew
From: IanC
Date: 09 Dec 13 - 11:47 AM

Will Fly has it, I'm pretty near certain.

In the 50s and 60s my family remained poor but we stopped eating rabbits because of myxy. You were told that it wouldn't make you ill to eat myxy rabbits but to be honest nobody wanted to take the chance. Eating diseased animals has never been popular with agricultural peasants.

Now that there are so many rabbits aroud without the disease they are becoming much more popular again in English villages. Memories of poverty food are usually pretty long (see, for example blackberries in Ireland) but poverty food in England has always had an odd sort of cachet. I don't know why.

I'd give quite a lot for a Pigs Fry Pudding these days but you can't get offal from the buthcers now.

;-)

Subject: RE: BS: rabbit stew
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 09 Dec 13 - 12:02 PM

How do UK rabbits differ from US ones?

Subject: RE: BS: rabbit stew
From: Ebbie
Date: 09 Dec 13 - 12:18 PM

(Thanks, guys :)

Most of what we in the US call rabbits are actually hares. I'd have to look it up to be sure of the distinction, though.

Subject: RE: BS: rabbit stew
From: Pete Jennings
Date: 09 Dec 13 - 12:37 PM

Our village butcher sells prepared rabbits for £1.99 each. Local gamekeepers bring them in and they get £1 for each rabbit. Already paunched by the keepers, all the butcher has to do is chop off the extraneous bits, skin them and put them in the window. They don't take long to sell.

Subject: RE: BS: rabbit stew
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 09 Dec 13 - 02:34 PM

The best paté I ever ate was rabbit paté bought in Normandy about 40 years ago.
Years ago, when we actually had a local butcher, he used to sell rabbit, which I bought regularly. He told me he had a customer whose family said they would never eat rabbits (dear little fluffy things), but she fed it to them anyway and told them it was 'prairie chicken. They all liked prairie chicken.
As for the 'dear little fluffy things' - I did hear of someone who fell out with her next door neighbour because her rabbit bit their alsatian.

Subject: RE: BS: rabbit stew
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 09 Dec 13 - 03:16 PM

Enjoy your rabbit!

haven't had one for many years. Markets in Texas has commercially raised ones, which I ate a couple of times, but the best was a wild one caught in Georgia, long, long ago.

Here in Alberta we have the hare (snowshoe rabbit), but no one eats them but the coyotes and the big cats. Those that have become citified work the alleys and yards here for food. Even see them in our shopping plaza.
In the grasslands is a species of cottontail, but we don't see them here in Calgary and the Foothills.

Some pet? cottontails escaped in the town of Cochrane west of here, and started to multiply, but they caught most of them, I think.

Subject: RE: BS: rabbit stew
From: GUEST,olddude
Date: 09 Dec 13 - 06:02 PM

deboned it and made a killer stew in the slow cooker. It was awesome. My Mrs said this is great stew then I told her afterwords it was rabbit. she said ... you are in trouble ... LOL

since she broke her ankle I am the cook so she has no choice tee hee

my dog got a nice big bowl in his dish ... he supplied the game it was the least I could do

Subject: RE: BS: rabbit stew
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 09 Dec 13 - 09:39 PM

I'm glad at least two out of three of you enjoyed it! And perhaps the one who didn't did at the moment but not in retrospect!