New to this

[AShelBunny]

Ok.
I'm cooking my first rabbit.
I'm afraid because there's not a "USDA SAFE TO EAT" sticker lol to put my fears simply
It was our first, and I'm not sure we bled out properly. Between the cervical dislocation and processing we kind of ran around like chickens with OUR heads cut off because we were little babies about it. LOL
Is it ok? I read some other posts, there was pooling of blood in the chest cavity. It looks like any meat I've ever prepared.
We'll be ok, right?!
We haven't bred any rabbits yet
Would love some book suggestions. I've read a lot and followed so many Facebook groups about this for a year or two, and we just had a great opportunity and jumped.
Nervous but excited. Our homestead is really moving up in levels.

 

[ladysown]

yes, you will be fine. Remember low and slow.

 

[Lil Acorn Acres Farm]

My husband was on a mission to eradicate the freeloading bunnies from the farm. He would shoot them with a pellet gun. I found blood in many places when I processed them. Didn't know their age. So I let rigor mortis pass then stewed them, or pressure cooker them or sous vide-ed them. Tastes like chicken. Prepared them like I would chicken.
That's why I decided to raise meat rabbits. The big differences were size of course, and fat. There was no fat on the wild ones.
How old was your soon to be dinner rabbit?

 

[Scooter1A]

No worries, just soak to get as much blood as possible out. That is why I prefer the bop and bleed dispatch. I like to smoke the rabbit then finish in the crock pot. Also like sauteeing then finish in oven. Your options are endless. When dispatching make sure to get the gall bladder off the liver, you don't want to eat that. The liver is fantastic.

 

[Rabbit Tree Farm]

No worries, just soak to get as much blood as possible out. That is why I prefer the bop and bleed dispatch. I like to smoke the rabbit then finish in the crock pot. Also like sauteeing then finish in oven. Your options are endless. When dispatching make sure to get the gall bladder off the liver, you don't want to eat that. The liver is fantastic.

As are the heart and kidneys!

To the op...my first couple of times were absolute chaos...because a couple sensed my nervouseness and squealed when i picked them up out of the cage! Omg...that is upsetting...i mean i hadn't DONE anything yet!

So i have learned to keep myself calm and no more screaming rabbits.

It does get easier!

As to blood, you can soak in a brine too...we do that before canning. Just a simple salt water soak for about 30 min to an hour seems to do the trick.

 

[eco2pia]

Taking the blood out of the meat is more about appearance than about any health concern. If the blood is left in the meat, it will be visible in veins, and in our boneless, dino nugget loving society that is often a bridge too far, and grosses people out. The meat you were so careful to clean and raise was likely handled with more care than any USDA inspected facility.

 

[TKT]

I brine my quail in the fridge with just plain saltwater. I change it a couple times, then rinse well and pat dry before cooking. I agree it will be cleaner, safer and fresher than anything you will buy in a grocery store.

I was weirded out just the same when I first started cooking my quail! And eating my home raised greens! Ew, bug bites! Now it's like, "Eh." I soak the greens in vinegar salt water, rinse well, dry, eat. At least I know they aren't contaminated by cattle feces, and they are covered to keep bird droppings off and bugs out.

I got my first rabbits yesterday. What's going on all over the world made me feel like, "Okay, time to add rabbits to the homestead." They are so beautiful! I am cramming rabbit info again to make sure these lives in my care are happy and content ones. I don't take their stewardship lightly.

I would love any book recommendations as well.

 

[HerbertHomestead]

Ok.
I'm cooking my first rabbit.
I'm afraid because there's not a "USDA SAFE TO EAT" sticker lol to put my fears simply
It was our first, and I'm not sure we bled out properly. Between the cervical dislocation and processing we kind of ran around like chickens with OUR heads cut off because we were little babies about it. LOL
Is it ok? I read some other posts, there was pooling of blood in the chest cavity. It looks like any meat I've ever prepared.
We'll be ok, right?!
We haven't bred any rabbits yet
Would love some book suggestions. I've read a lot and followed so many Facebook groups about this for a year or two, and we just had a great opportunity and jumped.
Nervous but excited. Our homestead is really moving up in levels.

Yes you are fine and congratulations. The first time can be tricky but each time it gets easier. My first time I butchered 14 rabbits and it took me 5 hours! I am much quicker now.

 

[hotzcatz]

Some of us were around before they were printing nutritional labels on food, let alone "USDA Safe to Eat" labels. Plus, if you grow up around places that grow food, a lot of it gets eaten way before there's any time to label it. And that whole 'expiration date' stuff seems so bizarre as well. At least, IMHO. Probably increases food sales for manufactured and processed foods, tho.

Eating the blood is fine. FWIW, around here they have 'blood' served around Halloween time. Far as I can figure, it's actually blood (I'm guessing cow, most likely?) that has somehow been made pudding like. It's pretty tasty stuff once you get past the whole blood concept.

The stuff you get in commercial grocery stores is all the sanitized stuff. If you are producing your own food or getting it directly from the folks who grow the food, you'll start to notice that there's a huge variance in any type of food. Big and little strawberries, bent beans, etc., etc. The stuff at the stores has all been picked over to all be the same. Not sure what happens to all the rest of the stuff, but anytime you're growing anything there will be some that looks different and leftovers as well.

 

[SLRS]

I brine my quail in the fridge with just plain saltwater. I change it a couple times, then rinse well and pat dry before cooking. I agree it will be cleaner, safer and fresher than anything you will buy in a grocery store.

I was weirded out just the same when I first started cooking my quail! And eating my home raised greens! Ew, bug bites! Now it's like, "Eh." I soak the greens in vinegar salt water, rinse well, dry, eat. At least I know they aren't contaminated by cattle feces, and they are covered to keep bird droppings off and bugs out.

I got my first rabbits yesterday. What's going on all over the world made me feel like, "Okay, time to add rabbits to the homestead." They are so beautiful! I am cramming rabbit info again to make sure these lives in my care are happy and content ones. I don't take their stewardship lightly.

I would love any book recommendations as well.

Freebee book: Table of Contents

 

[Lil Acorn Acres Farm]

Some of us were around before they were printing nutritional labels on food, let alone "USDA Safe to Eat" labels. Plus, if you grow up around places that grow food, a lot of it gets eaten way before there's any time to label it. And that whole 'expiration date' stuff seems so bizarre as well. At least, IMHO. Probably increases food sales for manufactured and processed foods, tho.

Eating the blood is fine. FWIW, around here they have 'blood' served around Halloween time. Far as I can figure, it's actually blood (I'm guessing cow, most likely?) that has somehow been made pudding like. It's pretty tasty stuff once you get past the whole blood concept.

The stuff you get in commercial grocery stores is all the sanitized stuff. If you are producing your own food or getting it directly from the folks who grow the food, you'll start to notice that there's a huge variance in any type of food. Big and little strawberries, bent beans, etc., etc. The stuff at the stores has all been picked over to all be the same. Not sure what happens to all the rest of the stuff, but anytime you're growing anything there will be some that looks different and leftovers as well.

My husband donates his time to distribute food to the needy. The different looking food gets donated to food banks. 2 legged carrots, odd shaped potatoes, double onions, over ripe or under ripe, bruised, sometimes moldy fruits and vegetables. I think there is a tax write off for the donation to the food bank.

 

[TKT]

Freebee book: Table of Contents

Thank you for this!

 

[eco2pia]

Not sure what happens to all the rest of the stuff, but anytime you're growing anything there will be some that looks different and leftovers as well.

My husband donates his time to distribute food to the needy. The different looking food gets donated to food banks. 2 legged carrots, odd shaped potatoes, double onions, over ripe or under ripe, bruised, sometimes moldy fruits and vegetables. I think there is a tax write off for the donation to the food bank.

I used to be part of an organization called the "gleaners" and we would pick through all that stuff the grocery store threw out, and keep what we could use for human food, which was distributed as shares to members, and a local pig farmer picked up the rest. It was a very low budget charity, that the stores got a write off for the donation of what was garbage to them, we got free food for the work. It was mostly young single mothers (me), recent immigrants, and retirees on fixed incomes, and it was a huge part of bootstrapping myself out of poverty. I was incredibly proud of the meals I made out of "garbage".

In recent years there is a company that collects and sorts that food and sells it for a profit as a grocery delivery service--which I have very mixed feelings about. Here it is either "Imperfect Foods" or "Misfits Market". They say they are saving food, but they are making money and removing a work-for-yourself resource for poorer community members. I know that getting people willing to sort food was often difficult, so this is likely more efficient and profitable to all the concerned. But at the same time, I don't like the capitalism marketing itself as a good deed. And I wonder how that affects a person in my former position--I would have had one less resource.

 

[AShelBunny]

Some of us were around before they were printing nutritional labels on food, let alone "USDA Safe to Eat" labels. Plus, if you grow up around places that grow food, a lot of it gets eaten way before there's any time to label it. And that whole 'expiration date' stuff seems so bizarre as well. At least, IMHO. Probably increases food sales for manufactured and processed foods, tho.

Eating the blood is fine. FWIW, around here they have 'blood' served around Halloween time. Far as I can figure, it's actually blood (I'm guessing cow, most likely?) that has somehow been made pudding like. It's pretty tasty stuff once you get past the whole blood concept.

The stuff you get in commercial grocery stores is all the sanitized stuff. If you are producing your own food or getting it directly from the folks who grow the food, you'll start to notice that there's a huge variance in any type of food. Big and little strawberries, bent beans, etc., etc. The stuff at the stores has all been picked over to all be the same. Not sure what happens to all the rest of the stuff, but anytime you're growing anything there will be some that looks different and leftovers as well.

That is something I've been wondering. Actually. Lol. How do try get everything to look so uniform! I thought I was doing it wrong! We had our first garden this year too

 

[Olbunny]

Good on you for getting started with rabbits. And now you know exactly how you're protien is handled. Grown n butcher. And I suspect that you will have a superior product. No hormones or steroids either. Farm fresh is always better. And knowing where n how your animals are raised is nice. I enjoy knowing that the rabbits we raise are given the best care possible and raised with compassion.
And our kids n grandkids are learning animal husbandry too