We butchered rabbits at over 20 weeks (can't remember exactly). Oddly, the crock-pot method yielded dry meat for me that particular time, though the meat was submerged. I don't know why.
Two rabbits from the same litter have been fricasseed with marvelous results! I did find that, unlike making chicken fricassee, rabbit fricassee came out best with the addition of a couple of steps. Normally, with chicken fricassee, you dredge the chicken a single time in your flour mix before putting it in the pan to brown. For me, the rabbit wasn't hanging on to enough of the flour. So I did this (and I'll put it in the rabbit recipes section later):
Dredge the pieces in plain flour and shake off the excess (this helps the next step stick)
Dip them into a 1:1 mix of beaten egg and milk.
Dredge them in a seasoned flour mix (I tend to have a high concentration of garlic powder and onion powder in there)
Then put them into a hot, oiled pan to brown on both sides. When they are browned, add water or broth to nearly cover the pieces, and scrape the pan to get the browned flour off the bottom and into the gravy. Liberally add sliced onions. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Turn meat occasionally. After about 45 minutes, check the seasoning of the gravy and adjust as desired. Continue until meat is done, usually an hour to an hour and a half. Serve gravy over rice. If desired, debone meat and return to gravy. If not, serve pieces whole.
I did age the rabbits in the refrigerator three or four days before freezing them. Hopefully waiting wasn't a mealbreaker for you!
Congratulations on butchering your first rabbit!
