When we butchered our first rabbits at the end of August we had already learned from this forum that cooking meat while it was in rigor would result in lots of chewing. But we wanted to cook one that day because a visitor who was willing to help with the job and wanted a taste had to leave the next day. Some posts had indicated rigor started in less than an hour after slaughter but I was ready with the braised in milk recipe and had a rabbit browning in a pan very quickly. It was delicious. The other 5 done that day were put in a weak brine solution and refrigerated. They didn't go into rigor for at least 12 hours, but then stayed in for 5 days. Most of what I read on here seemed to say rigor passed in a couple days. So I wondered in what condition those rabbits were kept. The next time we just had 2 to do--a mature doe we didn't want to breed again and a kit we'd figured out was a buck and wanted out of the growing out cage since he was ahead of his peers. Thought I could cook them right away--did one in a crock pot recipe and the other poached. But both of those heated up slowly and I think that rigor set in before they really started to cook. Quite chewy. The next time we did 8 and some were cut up and frozen before rigor set in. Will they go into rigor when thawed? Or will the time in the freezer somehow get around the rigor issue? Any enlightenment appreciated. Always prefer to learn from someone else's mistakes when possible.