Anyone have this mental block w rabbit meat?

[ridgerunner1965]

it may just have to do with how you were raised as a child.when i was a kid we raised all our own meat. mostly beef and chickens.we butchered it ourselves also.if it was a cow, me or my dad shot it, then skinned it and prepared it for butchering.if it was a chicken or turkey, we went up to the the chicken house and caught it and and killed it and then scalded and picked it.

to this day i can be driveing down the road and see a nice fat young steer or heifer and remark how good the steaks off that animal mite taste.my brother, if he is with me, will remark, depending on its age and degree of fatness, how good it mite be.


rabbits are the same for me.i know they are cute and lovable but they are such good eating.and basically thats what we raise them for.

its totally ok if you dont feel the same way, that just means more meat for those that dont.

 

[dragonladyleanne]

I am going to take a whole different approach here, since you can eat it when others cook it, even though you slaughtered and prepped it. I have often been the "head cook" of meals intended for company, and the temptation to "sample" as you cook is very strong, especially if it's one of those meals which take you a bit past your real "time to eat" stage. Sampling food before it is ready, or forcing yourself NOT to sample it can both cause queasiness either because it's raw when sampled, or due to the smell of the cooking causing stomach acid to flow if you refrain. When others do the cooking, even if the meal is "late", you aren't RIGHT THERE, you are probably chatting with others, and it keeps your body in "non-meal" mode. Or you could associate the smell of it cooking with something unpleasant which is totally unrelated. My father loved pork roast as a kid, for instance, but as an adult had to leave the house while it cooked and would only eat it cold the next day (after the smell left the house), ever since he had helped a medical team get a burn victim from a small plane crash when he was in the Guard. He said the smells were too similar. Maybe if you burned a scented candle while you cooked, in something like cinnamon or vanilla, it would help?

 

[skysthelimit]

dragonlady,

That is an interesting concept. I do best if I don't have to handle the meat at all. The sensation of touching the raw sticky meat pretty much turns my stomach. I cannot be the one who has to butcher, cook it and eat it. Once I've seen it's insides, that's the end. Mainly this is a problem with white meats, I guess after years of wanting to be a doctor, and dissections, cadavers and necropsies, white meat is too much like flesh, even when cooked. Handling hamburger meat pretty much ruins my appetite as well. I'm sure there is some childhood trigger there too. I can still put a piece of steak in the oven if I don't handle it too much.

I often wonder what rabbits would taste like, and I've butchered a few with the intention of keeping for me, but that goes away right about the time I cut the intestines out.

 

[Zab]

DLL: You might be onto something there. Although I have no trouble with any other meats if I cook them myself..

 

[hoodat]

I'm feeling a little emotional today...I had to dispatch and butcher a "favorite" rabbit and today we are cooking him. I felt a little sad when I got the parted-out rabbit chunks into a pot...this was my pet as much as anything. But I know I will enjoy dinner tonight, to help make it less unpleasant we're making my favorite...BBQ pulled rabbit.

I have started putting the rabbit's name on the packages in the freezer...for some reason that helps. It reminds me of the gifts that animal has given me, and I can remind myself that their death was swift and painless...that helps, too.

Now, if we were talking hunted animals...I can (and often do) crave venison after a day of butchering. My dad can't stomach it for at least a week though...so deer-butchering nights are also pizza nights. :roll:

What helps me is a small ceremony I go through when killing and butchering a rabbit. I first hold it and thank it for the pleasure of its company and the food it is about to give me. Immediately after dispatching it I cut the throat to bleed it out and drain the blood on the bare ground saying,"This is my brother the rabbit. Mother (Mother Earth) please nurture his spirit". This honors the spirit of the rabbit and helps me find peace with the necessity of killing to live.

 

[Kyle@theWintertime]

I'm feeling a little emotional today...I had to dispatch and butcher a "favorite" rabbit and today we are cooking him. I felt a little sad when I got the parted-out rabbit chunks into a pot...this was my pet as much as anything. But I know I will enjoy dinner tonight, to help make it less unpleasant we're making my favorite...BBQ pulled rabbit.

I have started putting the rabbit's name on the packages in the freezer...for some reason that helps. It reminds me of the gifts that animal has given me, and I can remind myself that their death was swift and painless...that helps, too.

Now, if we were talking hunted animals...I can (and often do) crave venison after a day of butchering. My dad can't stomach it for at least a week though...so deer-butchering nights are also pizza nights. :roll:

What helps me is a small ceremony I go through when killing and butchering a rabbit. I first hold it and thank it for the pleasure of its company and the food it is about to give me. Immediately after dispatching it I cut the throat to bleed it out and drain the blood on the bare ground saying,"This is my brother the rabbit. Mother (Mother Earth) please nurture his spirit". This honors the spirit of the rabbit and helps me find peace with the necessity of killing to live.

I do similar, sort of. I apologize to the rabbit because this is not a perfect world (if it was, nothing would die to feed another) and I thank them for their gifts, and I promise them I will not be wasteful or disrespectful. Most rabbits I have to bleed into a bucket though, since I can't butcher them outside any more (dang nosy neighbors!) but for special rabbits, I collect the blood in a little dish, as for a small, private Blót.

Dinner was good...my dad and I enjoyed it, and we talked a little about Boss, the dinner-provider, and how sad we are he's gone but also how excited we are about his son, Brut. And a little about the cycle of life. It leads to reminiscing about friends and family we've lost.

I've been pleasantly surprised at how many people show gratitude and respect to the animals they raise for meat. It makes me feel less weird.

 

[hoodat]

Besides the healthy aspect of knowing how they were raised, knowing that they were respected and not run through some soulless slaughter house is a big plus. Those of us who care for animals never show them disrespect.

 

[Kyle@theWintertime]

Besides the healthy aspect of knowing how they were raised, knowing that they were respected and not run through some soulless slaughter house is a big plus. Those of us who care for animals never show them disrespect.

So true.

 

[joybellfarm]

I have this problem. Tried chickens and it was good but hard to eat. We had more problem processing it. Then tried rabbit. And that was harder to swallow lol. Wish we all can get over the fact. As i would like to be more self reliant. I think we would eat chicken before we would try rabbit again. If only i know someone who could butcher that would be so much easier.

 

[SarahMelisse]

I feel the same way sometimes. I raise and butcher all the animals around here and I think that has something to do with it. I LOVE eating home-raised meat, but even more so if someone else did the deed. When it is a rabbit that I raised, I usually have to leave it in the freezer for awhile until I forget who it was... and even then I like to make casseroles or pot pies so that I don't have to chew off the bone. Don't get me wrong... it tastes wonderful, but I think there is still some subconscious guilt lingering. Hopefully after a few dozen more rabbits, my Easter bunny syndrome will fade.

 

[ramblingrabbit]

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