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



## nstone630 (Jul 10, 2013)

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?????


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## elevan (Jul 10, 2013)

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.


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## nstone630 (Jul 10, 2013)

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


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## nawma (Jul 10, 2013)

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.


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## nstone630 (Jul 10, 2013)

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?


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## nawma (Jul 10, 2013)

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


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## elevan (Jul 10, 2013)

Brining isn't needed for rabbit.


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## nstone630 (Jul 11, 2013)

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.


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## VickieB (Jul 11, 2013)

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


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## nmred (Jul 12, 2013)

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.


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## Beachbunny (Jul 13, 2013)

N stone...what kind of bunnies have you got...my American chinchillas at 12 weeks usually dress out at about 2.75 lbs on average..the breed you have may be a smaller bun...


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## OneFineAcre (Jul 13, 2013)

The most famous rabbit recipe is Hasenpfeffer.

For many years Elmer Fudd wanted to make this dish with Bugs Bunny.

You can google and find a recipe.

It is very good.  It is a German Rabbit Stew.


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## twg.jenn (Jul 15, 2013)

With our wild rabbits we made a rabbit n dumplings. Depending on how much you want to make, increse or decrease the ingredient quantities.

30oz Chicken broth
30oz Water
6 Celery sticks
1 Onion (medium)
2 1/2 lbs Rabbit meat
Cajun spice
1 pack Refrigerator biscuits

We start the broth out on medium. 
Cut the celery and onions up (I cut the onions up extremely fine since my old man doesn't like the taste). 
Add the vegetables and rabbit meat. 
Start to Cajun it up! We like it spicy, but go at your own pace.
Leave on medium to medium-low for 4hours. 
Pull the meat out and strip it from the bones.
Toss the meat back in. Now is when you can either turn it on low and let it simmer a little longer before supper time or go ahead and turn it on high to cook your dumplings.

Dumplings: Take the biscuits out of package. If you want LARGE dumplings, roll whole into a ball. If you want MEDIUM dumplings, cut in half then roll into a ball. If you want SMALL dumplings, cut into four pieces.
Throw them on top of the soup and let them soak up the juice. 

Enjoy!!


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## nstone630 (Jul 15, 2013)

So this past Friday we cooked out first. it was GREAT!!! Even the kids loved it. That was my fear. 

We cooked it in the crock pot for while to get the meat good and done, then battered it and fried it. was really good. I will add a bit more seasoning to the batter next time...they are pretty bland. 


I'm going to try all these wonderful recipes everyone is sharing, they all sound so yummy.

I have New Zealands...and they just seem tiny. I'm going to be supplementing to beef them up some.


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