Rabbit meat taste..

[Zab]

Soo.. I've found out I don't really like the taste of rabbits. That's a good thing to find out with 17 younglings and more to come, right? :lol:

It's not too bad. I can eat it. I prefer it minced and mixed with herbs or spices in a pie, but I can eat it in other fashions as well. I just don't think it taste very good. Not too bad either or else I wouldn't eat it, of course, but not good either. I don't long for a nice, juicy rabbit steak like I long for bacon or a grilled chicken

But I like meat... I love pig, chicken and cow. Yeah, that's right.. the animals I'm used to eat. Never really enjoyed deer, moose, sheep, boar or beaver much though; and yes exactly: the animals I'm not used to eat very often.

So my ponderings now... will I learn to enjoy rabbit? :?
I have enough reason to try; getting healthy meat from animals with decent lives is more than enough reason for me to keep eating worse tasting food. But if I'll always feel a bit ''meh..'' about the taste.. it's going to be a tad annoying.
But I figure.. if I like the taste of the meat I grew up eating, perhaps I'll get used to and appreciate rabbit as well if I just eat it often enough? Or have those days passed, am I too old to adapt to new flavours?

I eat most things, except spicy/hot food... it shouldn't be that hard to get used to such a neutral flavour as rabbit?

Have your taste for rabbit changed since the first bite? Or did you grow up with it? Loved it immediatly?

 

[paradox]

Yes my opinion has changed. We tried rabbit meat a couple of different ways before we jumped into raising them and I will admit that I did not like 2 of the 3 we initially tried. But others in the family did, so we went ahead and got some breeders. Now that we have had them for a while and have tried other recipes, I have found several that I like a lot. So I would say to try many different recipes before you throw in the towel if you really like the idea of raising them.

Also we trade rabbit meat with friends for the stuff that they raise so that is an idea too.

 

[Zab]

Good to hear

I'm not about to throw in any towel (actually I'm about to purchase a new, bigger buck..) but I'm happy to hear there's a chance I'll learn to enjoy it.

I've tried pie with minced meat = good. Burgers = good. Grilled = Meh. Preassure cooked then grilled in the oven = Meh.. better than the only grilled. Pie with ''whole'' pieces = Meh. Texture was fine but not the taste.

But I'll keep trying and soon enough I should have a steady income of rabbit meat so it won't be so far between times..

 

[Fire-Man]

Zab
If you like chicken, I would think you would love rabbit meat. Have you prepared a 4 1/2lb young(8 to 12 week old)rabbit, cut it into fryer pieces, batter and fry it just like you would fried chicken? Some allow the meat to sit in the fridge for a couple days before cooking. We do the older ones in the crockpot over night, debone the meat and we do what we call a rabbit bog, but you can do Many dishes using the debones meat.

We cooked a pot of rabbit bog as well as a grilled hog for our July the 4th family get together. (This is not the first time we cooked rabbit bog)I told the 45 head which pot had the rabbit bog before anyone fixed a plate and the rabbit bog pot was the first pot to empty, they love it. We had a Friend join us for dinner that day and She said as soon as we said anything about the rabbit bog that she WOULD NOT eat any. When everyone was fixing their plates in the line she seen the rabbit bog pot dropping down quick and she was nosey-----she got a little and put on her plate and came and sit with my wife and I. She tried it-----her Eyes lite up----"this is very good" she said and she also said she would eat it again. Rabbit is GOOD if properly cooked!!

 

[MaggieJ]

What seasonings do you use, Zab? I find that how much I enjoy any meat depends a lot on the seasonings I use. You might want to try garlic and fresh rosemary as a combination; freshly ground allspice and black pepper work well together, apple and sage. I like to use apple juice as part of the liquid in rabbit recipes. I think if you experiment a bit with the seasonings and condiments (try red currant preserves on the side for instance) you will learn to enjoy rabbit meat more.

 

[Zab]

My rabbits are small and ''designed'' to reach slaughter weight at 6 months I hope a new male will reduce the time some. But this far it has been adult rabbits. My oldest kits are 15 weeks now and too small yet.

I've had it in the fridge a couple of days, tried one in pienapple and orange "juice" and one in salt water. Tried the first one freshly killed but I won't try that again.

Seasonings..uhm.. you really want to put my english to a test now, MaggieJ? I'm not a fan of garlic but I recently discovered ..nutmeg? (strange word..) and I liked that. I've used lemon and black pepper (I like that for chicken).. ACV in todays meal.. uhm.. a mix of whatever I found on the shelf that smelled good.

I'll try rosemary.. I think basil could be nice too? I love a slice of tomato with basil and salt.

 

[Fire-Man]

What seasonings do you use, Zab? I find that how much I enjoy any meat depends a lot on the seasonings I use. You might want to try garlic and fresh rosemary as a combination; freshly ground allspice and black pepper work well together, apple and sage. I like to use apple juice as part of the liquid in rabbit recipes. I think if you experiment a bit with the seasonings and condiments (try red currant preserves on the side for instance) you will learn to enjoy rabbit meat more.

Maggie. No Offence!! Your post reminds me of what I tell my Wife alot "we could probably eat crap if we put enough seasoning on it" LOL. I know everyones taste is not the same. I for one do not want a marinated steak or a piece of any kind of meat that is loaded with seasoning. I like a little salt and pepper and that is it. I eat steak because I like the taste of steak and the same with rabbit and any other meat. If there is so much seasoning on it that I can not/hardly taste the meat--then I would not want it.

 

[Demamma]

I have found that just cubed and cooked in garlic olive oil with salt and pepper is my favorite. Rabbit does take getting used to. Zab the problem I think is older rabbit is tougher and has stronger flavor. Try butchering out sooner even if small and see if it makes a difference.

 

[MaggieJ]

What seasonings do you use, Zab? I find that how much I enjoy any meat depends a lot on the seasonings I use. You might want to try garlic and fresh rosemary as a combination; freshly ground allspice and black pepper work well together, apple and sage. I like to use apple juice as part of the liquid in rabbit recipes. I think if you experiment a bit with the seasonings and condiments (try red currant preserves on the side for instance) you will learn to enjoy rabbit meat more.

Maggie. No Offence!! Your post reminds me of what I tell my Wife alot "we could probably eat crap if we put enough seasoning on it" LOL. I know everyones taste is not the same. I for one do not want a marinated steak or a piece of any kind of meat that is loaded with seasoning. I like a little salt and pepper and that is it. I eat steak because I like the taste of steak and the same with rabbit and any other meat. If there is so much seasoning on it that I can not/hardly taste the meat--then I would not want it.

LOL, Fireman! No offense taken, but I think you misunderstood. I'm not suggesting heavy seasoning nor using all the ones I listed at one time. I probably should have suggested the combinations like this:
1. Fresh rosemary and garlic.
2. Freshly ground allspice and black pepper.
3. Apple and fresh sage.
4. If liquid is needed in the recipe, use part apple juice.
5. If you like a fruit condiment on the side (as you would serve pork with apple sauce or turkey with cranberry) try red currant preserve.

You sound like a "plain meat and potatoes" kind of guy and that is fine, but use of subtle seasonings to enhance the flavour of a dish can be nice too.

 

[Andrei]

But I like meat... I love pig, chicken and cow. Yeah, that's right.. the animals I'm used to eat. Never really enjoyed deer, moose, sheep, boar or beaver much though; and yes exactly: the animals I'm not used to eat very often.

Like or dislike is an educational think.
My dad use to say: If it is on the dinner table it must be good, so eat.
We use food too much like a drug, to please our brain.

 

[paradox]

LOL - being from the southern US I didn't try to offer recipe suggestions when I saw you were from Sweden. I have a friend from Scotland who wrinkles her nose whenever I discuss chicken frying anything with cream gravy or things like rabbit n dumplins. She thinks we eat really gross food here.

But I will agree with the others, if you have only been eating older rabbit then don't let that deter you. Young rabbit is way different. Actually that goes for any kind of meat.

Also what you feed can affect flavor so that is something to consider as well. Experiment a little and you will find the key to making this work.

 

[GBov]

Something very simple to try with older rabbit is to put your jointed rabbit in an oven proof pan and put over it a can of condensed mushroom soup, a bit of water, a diced onion and a bit of salt and cook it at about 300f for two or three hours until its fall off the bone tender.

Just because they are small, try butchering a few 8 to 12 week olds to test tehm for flavor as well. Quail are small but tasty too.

My mum wasn't a huge fan of rabbit meat until I started cooking it for her three or four times a month. She has come to really love it so you can develop a taste for it if you work at it.

Rabbit kiev (sp?) is a favorite here, either garlic or creamy.

 

[Lowell]

I think anyway you do chicken, you can do rabbit.

I think my favorite is grilled whole on the grill like I would do chicken.

 

[Zab]

Thanks for recipies/inspiration I'll try some the next time I eat.

Hm.. maybe I should try to process one of the older kits (15 weeks, but that's less than a year ).. it just seems like such a waste to take a life for so little meat..and the hide is small too..
...and I'm trying to procastinating the whole processing thing.. the mishap with Lakrits still bothers me. :/ How do you handle to kill them? I mean.. the first time was..I dunno, a bit exciting. Like ''I'm going to learn and experience something new that will be useful and make me less of a hypocrit when I buy food" but that feeling wore off quickly. Now it's more like ''I'll do it next week..or never..'' I feel like a psycho for killing them, even though I mentally know I'm doing it to get ''happy'' meat. Still.. I chose to actually kill creatures rather than let someone else do the dirty woork for me, so I must be some psycko serial killer person... Which is odd because I think that others doing the excact same thing is like heroes or something, doing the awful deed in the name of good..or something. :/
Uhm.. sorry for rabbit-trailing my own thread.. x_x

But I'll concider to process the older kits soon.. I kind of want to know they'll go together though, if I can keep having them in a ''buck-colony'' untill they reach the butcher weight we're used to here. Perhaps I'll try one of the mutts in a month (they're 5 weeks now) instead.. less time invested in them and I have 6 of them instead of 3..

 

[GBov]

I have three fryer age hide all nice and soft and fluffy and just waiting for a few more so I can smoke a batch of them instead of one at a time.

So far brains, mayo and hand lotion have all worked just fine, although the brain one smells a bit strong and hide-ie. Not bad, you just know its a hide.

I DID have three all finished and smoked and beautiful but the dog got them :evil:

 

[Peach]

Make sure to rest your meat I found I don't like rabbit meat if it has this "smell" to it. You have to give it time for the rigor to leave the body. I like to rest the meat for about 2-3 weeks, defrost it over 2-3 days and THEN eat it.

 

[Zab]

But they're small

I had to put a 4 week old kit down and decided to try and tan the hide. It's very soft and smooth but just about the size of my hand...

 

[annie]

I feel like that about chicken, I can eat it but just not into it. Chickens I raised and killed are better but still not great. But I love rabbit, its like what chicken should be!

 

[Mountain Spice]

Since you love bacon (I never met a guy who didn't).. try a spice brown sugar rub, then wrap the rabbit in bacon, and throw it on the grill...

 

[paradox]

Wow Zab that is little. What kind do you have?