I'm making a rabbit pie...

[MaggieJ]

Preheat the oven to 425 F. and put the pie in. After 10 minutes, turn it down to 350 F. and bake until the pastry is nicely golden, top and bottom. The filling is already cooked, so it is just a matter of getting the pastry baked to a nice golden brown. Hope this helps. I grew up learning cooking by doing so I don't often have exact recipes.

 

[bucknercrestfarm]

dinner at maggies! Dont know what yall are eatting but that pie is mine!

 

[MamaSheepdog]

That pie looked delicious!

As for the lard not being healthy- well, we all know that "you can starve to death on a diet of only rabbit because it lacks fat", so you probably saved several lives right there! :roll:

So- when is the next pie going in the oven?

 

[MaggieJ]

It will have to get a lot cooler than it is right now before I do any baking. It was about 84 F. today and it will be over 90 tomorrow. I know that doesn't sound so bad to a lot of you... but it's too darned hot for me.

 

[hoodat]

Thanks, Shannon... certainly a healthier alternative. I'll give it a try. I remember my Mom switching to a corn oil recipe sometime in the 1960's in the interests of "healthier". My Dad never asked what was for dessert... It was always "What's for pie?"

I remember my grandpa saying,"There are only two kinds of pie I like - - - Hot pie and cold pie".

 

[MaggieJ]

That's a good one, Hoodat! My Dad would have completely agreed.

 

[LindseysWoolies]

I must say this recipe is yummy! Me and peach made it together and it was just delicious! It was actually my first time eating rabbit, now I want a few meat rabbits. lol

 

[MaggieJ]

Glad you and Peach enjoyed it! It's our favourite but I don't make it too often.

 

[lissapell]

do you put the crust only on the top?

 

[MaggieJ]

No, it's a two crust pie. You could put crust on the top only, but since this is a special occasion dish, served only a couple times a year, we splurge.

 

[-HRanchito]

I made this last thanksgiving and I am bumping because I searched up this post again for this year! (It's that good!)
The only differences were I added mushrooms and peas, and used storebought crust. :cats-bed: lazy I guess

Highly recommend if anyone else happens to be scrolling around here for thanksgiving preparations.

This year I plan to make 4 of these pies -- but 2 I'll try using this recipe with some venison.

 

[2CrazyFools]

Sorry for the zombie thread! But I'm assuming good recipes never grow old... am I right?

Maggie, do you pre-cook the mature rabbit in this recipe to help with tenderization? I'm seriously considering making this sometime this weekend as we have meat from mature rabbits now. (AKA: We no longer have any blue Americans as of yesterday...)

Do you have any tweaks to the recipe from the last... oh gosh, 6 years? Lol.

 

[MaggieJ]

My goodness! It was a surprise to see this recipe surface after all this time. This is probably the best original recipe I have ever come up with. :chef:

You could likely make it with any kind of meat, though the seasonings might need adjusting. I remember putting a lot of thought into what I would use, since my aim was to make a rabbit recipe to convince my big brother that domestic rabbit did not have to be bland. I succeeded! :dinner:

Yes, I always precook the meat - all the ingredients of the pie filling, actually - before they go into the pastry for baking.

Cut meat into pieces the size of your thumb or thereabouts. Dredge in seasoned flour and brown in oil in a large pan. Add liquids and loosen any browned bits stuck to pan. Add onions, carrots, apple, garlic, bay leaves and rosemary, stirring gently to combine. Cover and lower heat to simmer.

I simmered the ingredients long and very slow in a deep covered skillet or Dutch oven on top of the stove. I do not recommend a crock pot for this . . . It would come out tender in a crock pot but somehow the flavours and textures in a crock seem different to me. Maybe because there is not way for the moisture to escape.

Adding mushrooms is a great idea. I can't think why I didn't put some in. :?

 

[2CrazyFools]

Yes, I always precook the meat - all the ingredients of the pie filling, actually - before they go into the pastry for baking.

Cut meat into pieces the size of your thumb or thereabouts. Dredge in seasoned flour and brown in oil in a large pan. Add liquids and loosen any browned bits stuck to pan. Add onions, carrots, apple, garlic, bay leaves and rosemary, stirring gently to combine. Cover and lower heat to simmer.

Okay, thanks for the clarification! I was initially asking about precooking it BEFORE this step, like par-boiling, since your recipe doesn't mention raw meat from a mature rabbit, just meat from a mature rabbit, lol. I didn't know if steps had already been taken to tenderize it (such as par-boiling) prior to the start of this recipe.

And how fresh can the rabbit be? (IE process and cook in the same day) or a little refrigerator / freezer action to further break down the protein bonds.

Definitely adding mushroom! I grew up with parents who didn't like fungus so I count my blessings I married a mushroom enjoying gentleman! I get to put it in anything I please

 

[MaggieJ]

No parboiling. The idea is to sear the pieces to seal them, then simmer very slowly for as long as it needs. Several hours, as I recall, but it was tender.

The meat should either be just processed (before rigor mortis sets in), OR aged in the fridge until rigor mortis has passed. Three days usually does it.

When we refer to mature rabbits as being tough, that is in comparison to young fryers. The mature meat is no more tough than pork loin or a comparable meat.

 

[2CrazyFools]

Maggie. I just want to say thank you so much for your recipe! I'm shocked by how tasty this old buck ended up tasting and to be honest, he wasn't tough at all! I figured I would share some pictures from tonight's meal to further inspire people to give this recipe a shot. My goodness did it make a LOT of food! Filled up a large cast iron skillet to the brim! I cut the crust recipe in half, and used collected bacon grease in place of lard. I also only added half the 'lard' at first and then did the roll, spread remaining half of 'lard' on the dough, fold over, roll, fold, roll, etc... to get the crust really flakey. It was excellent.

I also had to add a LOT more liquid than I had imagined and kept it mixed between water and apple juice. Probably ended up being a good 2+ cups extra, not sure why but it was a nice thick gravy in the end. We had my mother in law over and she's not sold on the whole, 'eating rabbit' idea but alas, she loved it. Until I told her who we were eating.... :lol: whoops.

I wanted a nice light / fruity dessert ending so I went with Nathan's Lemon Cake and also cut that entire recipe in half and used a small 4' cake pan instead of an 8' cake pan. It came out super cute and more than enough for us 3. However tasty, the cake was a bit dense and heavier than I wanted after the heavy rabbit pie... though the lemon was a great pairing. Next time I'll go for a fluffier cake recipe and I think that would be perfect. The icing was delish though.

On to the pictures...

 

[alforddm]

That looks wonderful!

 

[MaggieJ]

Crazy, I'm so glad you enjoyed the recipe! Your pie and cake both look fabulous! Makes me regret I'm eating low-carb at present.

 

[2CrazyFools]

Next time I'll make sure to half the recipe! We are a family of two and this dish would be perfect for a family of 6, :lol: I think halving the recipe would fit it neatly into a regular sized pie pan with perhaps a little excess.

We're primarily low carb too Maggie, honestly since 2013. (Which is how I had half a lb of bacon grease for the crust just sitting around!) I follow Carb Nite for my low carb dieting and used it back in 2013 to slim down for my wedding, then used it in conjunction with Carb Backloading when I got heavy into weight lifting and competed (set a record for my weight class in my state for the bench press!) in spring 2015, and since then I've been doing a very loose Carb Nite for body weight maintenance. Super quick low down: Carb nite is 5-7 days ultra low carb (net carbs under 30 grams carbs per day) with one night (6-8 hours before bedtime) high carb with high glycemic (insulin spiking) ingestions. Such as this pie and the cake. Last night was our carb nite and boy was it tasty! I'm thinking about how to create this dish low-carb style but I've never been jazzed about any of the low carb crust recipes I've come across, so it'd probably just turn into a rabbit pie filling meal or something with a side of buttered broccoli or roasted asparagus. Oooh, probably do really well with a side of creamy mashed cauliflower! ...HMMMMMMM. Or better yet, a 'shepherds pie' with the mashed cauliflower and a layer of crispy cheese on top!

 

[Plinsc]

I have 2 old chickens getting ready for the freezer camp March, might try mixing with the rabbit meat and try this.