Explain to me rabbit chili

[coffeenutdesigns]

I saw a post where someone mentioned rabbit chili. I am interested...do you make it like red chili like you would with red meat or do you make like white chicken chili? Also, do you grind your rabbit for chili or just cut into smaller chunks of meat?

I am still a ways off from actually cooking anything with my rabbits, but I thought I would go ahead and ask now...let the idea stew on my brain for a while

 

[DarayTala]

I think you could grind it or cut it in chunks, either would work. Personally, I would grind it up with a little bit of fattier meat of some sort as well, something mild in flavor like pork maybe. I think a red chili would be alright if it was ground up, especially if you used an older rabbit with more flavor. For a young rabbit, or if you really wanted the rabbity flavor to come out strong, cutting it in chunks and making a white chili would probably be preferable. Pretty much anything you can think of will likely work, just experiment and figure out what you love best.

 

[mystang89]

Why would you mix it with a little bit of fattier meat? I've heard they do this with hamburger meat but since I don't process hamburger meat I don't know the reason.

 

[Mickey328]

I'd use it just like hamburger. I make my "regular" chili with ground beef and beans and tomatoes and all that stuff. If I would going to use rabbit, I'd just grind it and carry on as usual. If you usually make your chili with chunked meat, you could do the same thing.

When Grandpa went moose hunting, we'd end up grinding a lot of it. Like rabbit it has no fat IN the meat, so it wouldn't come close to sticking together. The first time, we got beef fat and mixed that in with it, but it was pretty bland. In subsequent years, we added pork fat...it punched up the flavor but didn't make it taste like pork but the fat also let us make patties. Without it, the patties just wouldn't stick together.

 

[coffeenutdesigns]

Having some interesting ideas for this chili business. Might have to experiment a little when I get to that point.

Thanks for the tips.

 

[jollysrabbits]

sorry guys, that was my post, I shred the rabbit because it is usually an older bun that I use. I use this with a texas style chili but will often add brown sugar to mellow it down for my wife. We just got an electric pressure/slow/rice cooker as a wedding present it worked great! Cooked the meat, drained some of the broth, added in the beans and veggies/spices and turned the slow cooker on high and then low for a total of 4 hrs. Not bad if i do say so myself.

 

[nicnmike]

I just made this chili: http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2011/10/2 ... i-recipe/#

It was awesome! Might be a little over powering for rabbit. I haven't had any really old buns yet, so I'm no too sure how strong they taste.

 

[DarayTala]

Why would you mix it with a little bit of fattier meat? I've heard they do this with hamburger meat but since I don't process hamburger meat I don't know the reason.

I have found that if you don't mix in a little fat then you end up with the meat being too crumbly and dry. You can also grind up the heart and liver and mix those in and that helps too. When I make burgers or meat pasties that's what I do, and it is very juicy and flavorful, but doesn't have a livery taste, so even those in my family who hate liver really enjoy it. With chili you might not need to add the fat because the meat will be in liquid the whole time it is cooking, but I would do so anyway because I find it improves the flavor in my experience.