Bunny Burger

[JT_Hunter]

I know, it has been a long time since I have posted....Lost my job first of August....am still kicking though...

My question is on making burger out of rabbits....do you mix it with any fat from another animal etc...will be grinding it myself....help me out like you people always have...Thanks

 

[MaggieJ]

Nice to "see" you, JT. Sorry to hear about your job... Hope something turns up for you soon.

Rabbit is so lean that you probably will want to mix in some other fat.

Do you have an electric grinder? I tried grinding rabbit meat once with a manual and found that the sinew gummed up the blades in no time, making it very hard work. Of course, you're undoubtedly a lot stronger than I am, so perhaps you will not have the same problem.

 

[JT_Hunter]

Hey Maggie, I have certainly missed the fabulous people here. I think I have been isolating myself...go figure...take a vacation to a wonderful place...Ottawa, Ontario....come home...loose my job....oh well....Ya can't keep me down for too long...have a couple of prospects...and if all else fails...I will start my own IT business....have been doing some of that any way....

As to grinding up ol thunper..I have 13 of them...well...all I have is a manual grinder...so I appreciate your input on that...I wonder if I can get a local butcher shop to grind it...bet not...might be able to get the place I have my deer processed do it for me...will check on that tomorrow....what would you use for fat...pork or beef...or does it matter..

 

[MaggieJ]

I don't think it would matter which you used... I'd say whichever you like the taste of better. Venison fat would also work... and I'll bet grinding venison and rabbit together would be great for sausage.

 

[siberian]

JT, you are a little over 4 hours from me, I have a decent electric grinder. You are more that welcome to use it. Hasnt been used for a year or two and I wont be using it this winter. Let me know if interested, I can meet you half way.

 

[sommrluv]

I would use pork fat. Lard would be to soft so you'll want to use either blanched salt pork, raw pork belly, or fat back. Rabbit is somewhere between chicken & pork in my opinion, and I think that would work much better than beef suet or beef tallow.

Chicken fat also wouldn't grind very well.

If you ask a local butcher, and you are buying the pork from him, I bet they would do it for you.

Rabbit burgers are a great idea.


Another idea is to grind as is, and when you are dividing it up into burgers or tacos or etc...whatever you decide to do with the plain ground, when you season it, mix it with a good quality oil, like EVOO or a cold pressed peanut. Those are more viscous, and will cling to the meat much better than a vegetable or canola type oil.

I'm curious to hear how this works!

 

[iamdrglass]

I haven't made burgers but I have ground 15lbs and made breakfast sausage. My kids love it. I just fry it in oil.
I borrowed a electric grinder and I will be buying one of my own. If you plan on doing much ground rabbit it is worth it. After you start grinding it you will definitely want more rabbits because it goes fast.



Check out this web site for recipes. I have tried several from here and they are all good.
http://www.rexrabbitsusa.com/

Dan

 

[arachyd]

I would use pork fat. Pork is what is usually used in venison sausage because the fat from deer tends to coat your mouth and a lot of people don't like the taste of deer fat. Bacon fat might give a really nice smoky flavor to it and I think chicken fat would blend with rabbit nicely too.

 

[sammysue63]

We grind ours as is and use it for sloppy joes, spegetti sauce etc, therefore no need to add fat. It works great.

 

[Dirk Chesterfield]

I grind lard into all my low fat ground meat. The trick is to separate the lard into small quarter sized lumps and put them into the freezer for a couple of hours before grinding. I also partially freeze the meat too, makes it grind better, minced not mushed.

Putting the grinder in the freezer also helps keep everything really cold during grinding. Two passed through the grinder, one coarse then one fine, also helps keep the meat from being mushy and disperses the fats better.

This works for venison, pork, chicken and turkey so it should work for rabbit too.

 

[iamdrglass]

I grind lard into all my low fat ground meat. The trick is to separate the lard into small quarter sized lumps and put them into the freezer for a couple of hours before grinding. I also partially freeze the meat too, makes it grind better, minced not mushed.

Putting the grinder in the freezer also helps keep everything really cold during grinding. Two passed through the grinder, one coarse then one fine, also helps keep the meat from being mushy and disperses the fats better.

This works for venison, pork, chicken and turkey so it should work for rabbit too.

Are you using a hand crank or electric grinder?

Dan

 

[JT_Hunter]

Right now, all I have at hand is a hand grinder

 

[OneAcreFarm]

I would think you could add egg to it like some do for hamburger or meatloaf....I don't add any fat to mine, just oil, but I have not made burgers yet...

Good to see you JT, I was thinking about you just the other day....

 

[JT_Hunter]

I know I have been overwhelmed by the welcome back...you guys are fabulous

 

[fuzzy9]

Hi JT!

We grind ours as is and use it for sloppy joes, spegetti sauce etc, therefore no need to add fat. It works great.

We haven't done this yet, but now I'm really anxious to grind some burger! My step-dad used to give us some venison that he cut up, and ground into burger. He would cut all the fat off that gave it the gamey taste, which also made it very lean. He'd add a bit of very lean beef to it though. It was awesome for using in place of 100% beef, it was so lean, and not at all gamey! Wonderful for spagetti! Now I'm excited to put some ground rabbit in the freezer!!

 

[JT_Hunter]

I made the decision to buy an electric meat grinder from Dick's...$120...well worth the expenseas I will use it...I processed 4 rabbits...they came in at a little less than 6 pounds each after dressing...provided a little over 3 pounds of ground rabbit each...

I gotta tell ya...Bunny burgers are fabulous...all white meat...delicate and tasty...I did not mix any fat with it...just cooked it up in some oil...nice addition to the freezer...

 

[MaggieJ]

Excellent! Care to share info about your grinder? I'm sure a lot of folks here would like to know the make and model number of one that will handle rabbit meat easily.

 

[JT_Hunter]

It is made by Weston...#8 in size...worked well...note: take time to let the grinder do the work...don't do a lot of pushing...gently drop small pieces into grinder...let it do the work...I could not imagine doing 4 rabbits by hand...so thanks to everyone that suggested I do it with an electric grinder...

Cleaning is easy...but I suggest you be very cautious about any hidden small bits of anything...or you may make yourself sick next time you use the grinder...not hard to clean...but just be careful...I bought a cleaning kit for mine....has brushes and a food grade spray lubricant...$15 from BassPro

I also bought some food grade baggies and hog ring clips and tool to seal the bags with...these were from BassPro...maybe $20 total...including 25 bags..

I got the grinder from Dick's...as it was half the price of similar models at BassPro...Seems to be sufficient for rabbits...if I was planning to do maybe 20 or more rabbits...whole deer...may have gone with larger model from BP...this model suggests letting it cool down after 15 minutes of use...does not take that long to process a few rabbits...so not an issue

After I had ground the meat...I placed it back in the upper tray of grinder...installed the sausage stuffing tube...then ran meat thru a second time and right straight into the plastic bags from the stuffer tube...clean fill...no mess..<br /><br />__________ Sun Nov 27, 2011 5:07 pm __________<br /><br />One rabbit

Bunny Bruger

 

[MaggieJ]

That burger looks awfully good! What time's supper?

 

[JT_Hunter]

One Bunny in a bag...well...3 bags...about a pound each


__________ Sun Nov 27, 2011 5:34 pm __________

That burger looks awfully good! What time's supper?

They are really good....also makes great tacos...chilli..."hamburger helper" works great also...any way ya can cook a burger...bunny burger is good....maybe not so much in a meat loaf...will let someone else work that one out...