Not so tender?

[sunrise]

I'm really new to rabbit for dinner. I raise show rabbits (average 4.5 pounds as adults, mini satins) but I don't want to waste the ones I cull and I stopped selling for pets. I have butchered about 10 so far and tried them in different recipes, also different ages and weights. The ones I crockpot for shredding turn out pretty well, but are still a little tough to shred (maybe that's normal?). The only other recipe I tried that wasn't very tough was baked BBQ rabbit, it wasn't too bad. Everything else I have tried, including bacon wrapped for the fat, or sauces for retaining moisture ended up being really tough. I know the younger the better, but seems like even the 12 week olds are tough. Am I doing something wrong or can I try something different? (I do let them rest a couple of days in the fridge after butchering). Should I try marinating them? Thanks for any help you can give me.

 

[Rainey]

You say you let them rest a couple days in the fridge, but I'm wondering if you're trying to cook them before rigor has passed. Ours usually take several hours to go into rigor and then it doesn't pass until 5 to 7 days. Know that is longer than most folks report on here, but it's in line with other information we found on line for rigor time for different livestock animals. We usually butcher in the 12 to 14 week range. Even when we've cooked an adult, not in the crockpot, we haven't had toughness, except at the beginning before we learned about rigor--or the ones we froze before rigor set in.
Hope you figure it out so you can enjoy eating what you've grown.

 

[Lmannyr]

Rainey,

So do you leave the rabbit in the fridge for 5-7 days before freezing to ensure rigor has passed? What is your butcher to cook storage process for tender rabbit meat?

Luis

 

[Miss M]

Ours, like Rainey's take 5 - 7 days for rigor to pass.

After cleaning, ours go into freezer bags (either zipper or vacuum sealer) and get put into the refrigerator for rigor to pass. At that point, we move them to the freezer, or vacuum seal and move them to the freezer, depending on what bags we used. <br /><br /> __________ Thu Aug 13, 2015 1:26 pm __________ <br /><br /> You can check a rabbit or two in the fridge every day to see how long it takes for rigor to pass in your fridge. Colder = longer.

If you remember how floppy the carcasses were when you first butchered, you can better figure when they're ready. They will get back to being flexible -- maybe not as flexible as they started out, but they will be flexible. Just find what works best for you.

 

[Rainey]

When we butcher, we rinse each carcass with cold water outside and then put them in a big pot of lightly salted water in the refrigerator. We usually cook up the hearts, kidneys and liver the day we butcher--they just go into a dish--not into the water, but the whole carcasses go in the pot until rigor has passed. Then I usually cook one whole and the others done in that batch are cut up and put into freezer bags. We freeze bags of legs and bags of boneless meat--mostly loin. What's left after cutting up is cooked with herbs, onions etc and the remaining meat taken off to make soup and finally what's left of the bones goes to the chickens.

Hope that helps. Sorry if it doesn't make sense--I've been working on our newsletter and my eyes are about done with screen time for today

 

[sunrise]

Thank you everyone for your advice. Sounds like I wasn't letting them rest long enough in the fridge, they were kinda stiff when I pulled them out. :lol: I will definitely try again!

 

[Rainey]

It takes a while to know what to expect--when rigor passes they aren't as limp as when first killed. We find them easier to cut up after rigor--not stiff but firmer than the day they're despatched. But they are pretty tough if rigor hasn't passed--we were a bit discouraged about our rabbit project when we did the first ones that way, but we really like the meat now. Once you get it right you'll know--explaining is harder. But guess we'd all rather learn by others' mistakes when we can.

 

[Miss M]

You can let rigor finish passing after you take the rabbit out of the freezer, someone said. I've never done it, but if you get the rabbit out several days early and let it defrost, you can let it finish resting at that point. Maybe it would work.

 

[Lmannyr]

So the rabbit won't spoil sitting in the fridge for 5-7 days?


So let me get this right.

1 Butcher
2 Fridge for 5-7 days
3 Then freeze?

 

[Rainey]

You can let rigor finish passing after you take the rabbit out of the fridge, someone said. I've never done it, but if you get the rabbit out several days early and let it defrost, you can let it finish resting at that point. Maybe it would work.

I think MissM means freezer--that if you freeze them before they go into rigor that you can let them rest after defrosting. We made the mistake of freezing one batch right after butchering and found them harder to cut up and then the meat was tough. But we didn't rest it after defrosting so don't know if that would have helped.

 

[Nika]

No breeder here wait till the rigor passes, I first read this a couple of months ago here

We rinse them with water, put them in a big pot full of cold water with a few onions and then change the water every couple of hours. We have them in a cold place like the basement over night or around 12 hours and then put them in the freezer. Meat is very tender, but I will try your way in the next batch to see if it can really be better. I am just not sure how I feel about 7 days old raw meat

 

[Zass]

So the rabbit won't spoil sitting in the fridge for 5-7 days?

Depends on your fridge.

My (5 year old) fridge doesn't seal properly, so...I don't dare refrigerate meat for more than a few days. I find they come out of rigor sooner in warmer conditions though, so.. It works out.

Mine are out of rigor in a 2 or 3 days.

Nika's are out of rigor overnight in a cool place, probable a bit warmer then under refrigeration.

At least one member says their bunnies just don't seem to go into rigor at all. :shrug:

 

[Rainey]

I wondered about keeping them uncooked and unfrozen for up to a week at first, but if I understand the process properly the thing is to not cook or freeze them until they are out of rigor and then, when they are--at a day or a week--to cook or freeze them promptly. We have a commercial type refrigerator and it may stay colder than a usual household model.
We can learn so much from each other, but we have to remember that different conditions mean different things work and in the end we each have to figure out what works in our situation.

 

[Nika]

No no, mine are still in rigor - rock solid, not floppy. I just didn˛t know that they are not supposed to be that way Also, it would be pretty difficult to store them all in a fridge, we butcher around 20 rabbits at a time so I really don`t have room for all of them.

That just reminded me.. how big refrigerators you all must have :lol:

 

[sunrise]

Ours is a commercial fridge also, maybe that is why it would take longer. Also would cooking them too long or not long enough make them tougher? I cook them for what the recipe calls for which seems to be generally what chicken cooks for. Definitely a learning curve!

 

[Zass]

No no, mine are still in rigor - rock solid, not floppy. I just didn˛t know that they are not supposed to be that way Also, it would be pretty difficult to store them all in a fridge, we butcher around 20 rabbits at a time so I really don`t have room for all of them.

That just reminded me.. how big refrigerators you all must have :lol:

Meat may slowly come out of rigor in the freezer too, and quickly during thaw times. So maybe they are no longer stiff by the time they are thawed and cooked??

Also would cooking them too long or not long enough make them tougher? I cook them for what the recipe calls for which seems to be generally what chicken cooks for. Definitely a learning curve!

Cooking them, yeah, that can take some time and experience. :lol:

Commercial chicken is weird now days. To me cooking rabbit is like cooking chicken that I process myself, but nothing like cooking the unusually moist and tender grocery store stuff. (I became alarmed when chicken no longer ever became dry or tough, no matter how long it was cooked.)

On the other hand, I've also over-baked young fryers at too low of a temp, and had them literally fall apart into...rabbit mush. hey are called fryers for a reason, and don't always take well to roaster type recipes. :lol: I actually think I prefer the taste and texture of slightly older rabbits, cooked properly.

 

[Preitler]

A week in the fridge is long, imho doesn't need that. Now I let them there for 2 days, then freeze them. Didn't know about rigor at the start and had some tough meals, but putting them into vegetable brew 1:1 with wine overnight or just freezing and thawing them makes them more tender.

The last rabbit I cooked became Wiener Schnitzel, needed some caution with the meat hammer for not reducing it to pulp, but was great.

Hm, must look up how to fry fryers, no idea.

 

[Miss M]

You can let rigor finish passing after you take the rabbit out of the fridge, someone said. I've never done it, but if you get the rabbit out several days early and let it defrost, you can let it finish resting at that point. Maybe it would work.

I think MissM means freezer--

Yes, I did. I went back and changed it. Thanks!

That just reminded me.. how big refrigerators you all must have :lol:

We have two refrigerators... a smaller one in the laundry room holds various things, including butchered rabbits. There were old refrigerators being replaced in an apartment complex as part of a rehab, and they let him bring one home.

We did have 18 in the fridge at one time, but didn't think about the fact that the ones that were in the bottom (where the drawers used to be) would come out of rigor faster because it wasn't as cold an area. We had one rabbit go bad as a result.

It all depends on how cold your fridge is, and how cold the area is in the fridge. The same fridge will partially freeze things that are in the back center... yet in the bottom, it is not nearly as cold.

 

[alforddm]

You can keep fresh butchered meat in a good working refrigerator for much longer than a week without it going bad. I've kept fresh butchered deer meat in the refrigerator for up to a month without any problems at all. Meat that has been at the grocery store is another thing entirely because it has already been refrigerated for a considerable amount of time before it gets to you.

 

[Rabbitdog]

You can keep fresh butchered meat in a good working refrigerator for much longer than a week without it going bad. I've kept fresh butchered deer meat in the refrigerator for up to a month without any problems at all. Meat that has been at the grocery store is another thing entirely because it has already been refrigerated for a considerable amount of time before it gets to you.

To add to this concept, it is common practice to age beef for several weeks in refridgeration hanging on hooks. I was shocked the first time that I saw beef hanging in a slaughterhouse with "fuzzy" growth all over the meat. Hogs are often aged for 2 weeks before processing. Now, I'm not sure if this has anything to do with rigor or not. I was told that allowing the meat to age caused the meat to be more tender because the fibers were actually decomposing and therefore breaking apart.
Additionally, I try to age deer meat for 3-5 days outside if the weather allows (I don't have a walk in cooler, unfortunately) and I can flat guarantee you that it makes the meat better, both in flavor and of course tenderness.