Taste difference between cervical dislocation vs bleeding method, what is your opinion?

[Bike guy]

I'm going to butcher my first rabbit tomorrow and I read different comments about the taste of dispatcing methods. Some people claim that rabbits that dispatched by cervical dislocation doesn't taste good because of the extra blood that it contains compared to bleeding method which allows blood to go out while the heart of the rabbit still beats.

The answer I want to hear is a big no, I would prefer cervical dislocation. My biggest concern about bleeding method is the rabbit might scream during the "hit the head and cut the artery" process. I don't know how will I explain those screams to my neighbours. I heard one of them scream when I vaccinate them, it was incredible. Plus, cervical dislocation seems more humane way of dispatcing.

I don't want to go with the bleeding method if I don't have to. Broom stick is the method of my preference. So what is your experience, any significant taste difference? Does it taste bloody when cervical dislocation method applied?

 

[tambayo]

No, just rinse well after cleaning and hang quickly after cervical dislocation. And last, make sure rabbit has had access to water right untill taking it out of the cage (and if in transportcage for a bit not more than hour, 2 tops). Some take away food 12-24 hours before (i don't) and even water, but dehydration would also thicken the blood making it stay in the tissues more.
Other than that i tend to put rabbit in one pot dishes, so flavouring fixes small oepsies.

 

[ihatedarkroast]

I don't have a ton of experience here but... Honestly, rabbits don't have a lot of blood and they don't have a strong gamey flavor like a deer. I would just pick whichever humane method you feel most comfortable with. Our rabbits have never screamed (even when dispatched) but I heard a wild rabbit scream before, and it is quite hair raising. So I know what you mean. Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

 

[eco2pia]

Yeah, after you dislocate, hang quickly and bleed. It more affects the appearance than taste--you may see blood remaining in surface vessels on the meat (hind legs particularly) if you fail to bleed quickly enough. If you do see them, and they bother you, they can be scraped off before or after cooking with a knife.

To bleed rapidly and effectively, grasp the dead hanging rabbits ears to tilt the head back, opening the throat area, insert the point of your knife under the hinge of the jaw with the sharp edge facing out, press all the way through until the point exits the other side of the throat, and cut OUT, away from the rabbit, out thru the skin from the inside. Rabbit fur and skin will dull your blade and be surprisingly hard to saw through--that thing you do with your finger to mime slitting a throat (drawing a smile under your chin) is NOT effective in real life.

If you do not bleed at all, the blood will mostly pool in the chest cavity, which is also not a big deal. Bleeding is largely cosmetic, and does make prettier, paler, more chicken-like meat.

 

[Scooter1A]

I bop and bleed. I still soaked for a while afterwards then 2 or 3 days dry in fridge for rigor to pass. Then to the freezer and I still soaked out blood after thawing. Don't let the meat dry while you are butchering.

 

[Bike guy]

I just butchered my first rabbit with success. She was a 8 months old half giant female and was 5 kg (11 pounds). She is still hanging there.

Dispatching+butchering+washing took me 20 minutes because I didn't know my knife was not sharp enough. If I used a sharp knife, all the job would be finished within 5 minutes.

I feel very weird. She was not one of my favorite rabbits, actually she was the only rabbit that doesn't like me touch her. (I do not blame her). But I still feel sorry. I put her on my table, smoked a cigarette while petting her and realised I should do this right now or I will get emotional. Then suddenly put her on the ground and do the broom stick method. I always thought I would hear a noise during cervical dislocation but nothing at all. I hung her immediately to cut her jugular vein but the knife failed me. It took at least 7 minutes for me to cut the head (I also had bad time to find the gap between her spine)

The rest was very easy, I watched so many rabbit butchering videos that I found every organs easily. Liver, gallbladder, and such, easily finished the job.
I was surprised that there were much more bloods than the videos. Apart from the blood that shedded, so many blood clotted around the neck and throat, it took me at least 5 minutes the wash the clotted blood at the neck.
I will put her in the refrigerator with salt water, planning to make salt water brine in the refrigerator. She will be there for 2 days, then I will put her to the fridge.

Thank you for your help BTW.

 

[Scooter1A]

I just butchered my first rabbit with success. She was a 8 months old half giant female and was 5 kg (11 pounds). She is still hanging there.

Dispatching+butchering+washing took me 20 minutes because I didn't know my knife was not sharp enough. If I used a sharp knife, all the job would be finished within 5 minutes.

I feel very weird. She was not one of my favorite rabbits, actually she was the only rabbit that doesn't like me touch her. (I do not blame her). But I still feel sorry. I put her on my table, smoked a cigarette while petting her and realised I should do this right now or I will get emotional. Then suddenly put her on the ground and do the broom stick method. I always thought I would hear a noise during cervical dislocation but nothing at all. I hung her immediately to cut her jugular vein but the knife failed me. It took at least 7 minutes for me to cut the head (I also had bad time to find the gap between her spine)

The rest was very easy, I watched so many rabbit butchering videos that I found every organs easily. Liver, gallbladder, and such, easily finished the job.
I was surprised that there were much more bloods than the videos. Apart from the blood that shedded, so many blood clotted around the neck and throat, it took me at least 5 minutes the wash the clotted blood at the neck.
I will put her in the refrigerator with salt water, planning to make salt water brine in the refrigerator. She will be there for 2 days, then I will put her to the fridge.

Thank you for your help BTW.

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View attachment 34005

good job!! that was a big rabbit. get that fat off and feed it to chickens or some say they save it and make soap. that's interesting. rabbit fat is not good like beef. now you know what you are doing. the big debate is on the soak/salt. i let mine go thru rigor dry in the fridge then i froze whole in butcher paper. when I thawed i soaked in plain water with no salt. although i soak a chicken in salt water with rosemary etc. no matter how you do it it will be fantastic. the hard part is over YEA

 

[Bike guy]

good job!! that was a big rabbit. get that fat off and feed it to chickens or some say they save it and make soap. that's interesting. rabbit fat is not good like beef. now you know what you are doing. the big debate is on the soak/salt. i let mine go thru rigor dry in the fridge then i froze whole in butcher paper. when I thawed i soaked in plain water with no salt. although i soak a chicken in salt water with rosemary etc. no matter how you do it it will be fantastic. the hard part is over YEA

Thank you, I really need to hear something encouraging. I don't know what to do with the rabbit fat, when I google "rabbit fat" all I see is results about obese rabbits lol. I read rabbit fat doesn't melt at all. Such a waste.

 

[Scooter1A]

if nothing else just throw it away. I'm going to search YouTube for soap info. If I find anything I will post it.

 

[eco2pia]

I used to render the fat on adults and use it like bacon grease or lard for cooking/baking. Now I just throw it to the dog. There is not anything wrong with it, but it is not marbled in the meat so it doesn't help the meat taste better (like beef).

Tip for decapitation--get a pair of brand new pruning shears (secateurs for the canucks) and reserve them for cutting thru bone. It is easier on your knife.

Also, a sharp sharp knife is key, I like one that looks like this one, which I found on Amazon for under USD $10:

 

[Jackrabbit]

They Taste pretty much the same….

 

[Bike guy]

I used to render the fat on adults and use it like bacon grease or lard for cooking/baking. Now I just throw it to the dog. There is not anything wrong with it, but it is not marbled in the meat so it doesn't help the meat taste better (like beef).

Tip for decapitation--get a pair of brand new pruning shears (secateurs for the canucks) and reserve them for cutting thru bone. It is easier on your knife.

Also, a sharp sharp knife is key, I like one that looks like this one, which I found on Amazon for under USD $10:
View attachment 34007

I decided to make lard tomorrow, just before I put the carcass to the freezer. (it is in the fridge now, in a salt brine) I've been searching internet for making lard and I think there are 2 different methods; with or without water. If I like the taste I will keep on making lard out of the rabbits that I butcher. If I don't like the taste, I'll give making soap a chance.

 

[eco2pia]

I used the no water method, just melting the fat over low heat--the fat browns a little that way, so that would not be my plan if I had a lot of it and wanted to make pastry, or maybe even soap. It works great for cooking with though.

 

[Scooter1A]

i'm doing that next butcher. so i want to know if your meat turns tough because you soak in salt but she's going to the freezer? it's such a big debate on salt soak v dry but i think i like the dry while they go thru rigor.

 

[Bike guy]

i'm doing that next butcher. so i want to know if your meat turns tough because you soak in salt but she's going to the freezer? it's such a big debate on salt soak v dry but i think i like the dry while they go thru rigor.

She is in the fridge right now, in the salt water. (Instead of ice water, I put it in the salt water and put the bucket in the fridge). I will take it out 15 hours later but I can't give you a proper comment about it's toughness because I don't have any other experience to compare salt water vs dry. The next time I will try both methods.

I'll also not cook it tomorrow, I'm planning to frost + defrost the meat to make it softer. Will it work? I have no idea. I'll try and see.

 

[Bike guy]

BTW in my country when I tell someone that I raise rabbit for meat, they say that the rabbit meat contains too much blood. I don't know where this "rabbit meat is too bloody" myth comes from, it's very common urban legend in my country. I made some search in internet and it seems this myth is specific to my country. Many people refuse to eat rabbit meat because it is "too bloody". Even rabbit farmers admit that rabbitry cannot flourish in this country because of this myth.

I have a theory about the source of this myth, in our language (Turkish) both rabbits and hares are called rabbit (tavşan), many people think that this two are of the same species. Since actual rabbit meat is not common, the only "rabbit" that people happen to eat is the hares that hunted down by hunters. Hares are hunted by guns and hunters keep hares with them all day long. During all these hours the blood of so called "rabbit" (actually hare) coagulate. This is how this urban legend born. I have no other explanation for this myth.

 

[dizzybumblebee]

BTW in my country when I tell someone that I raise rabbit for meat, they say that the rabbit meat contains too much blood. I don't know where this "rabbit meat is too bloody" myth comes from, it's very common urban legend in my country. I made some search in internet and it seems this myth is specific to my country. Many people refuse to eat rabbit meat because it is "too bloody". Even rabbit farmers admit that rabbitry cannot flourish in this country because of this myth.

I have a theory about the source of this myth, in our language (Turkish) both rabbits and hares are called rabbit (tavşan), many people think that this two are of the same species. Since actual rabbit meat is not common, the only "rabbit" that people happen to eat is the hares that hunted down by hunters. Hares are hunted by guns and hunters keep hares with them all day long. During all these hours the blood of so called "rabbit" (actually hare) coagulate. This is how this urban legend born. I have no other explanation for this myth.

Interesting to read about. Certainly I do not experience "bloody meat" But here in the western US we have the "bunnies are cute, how can you eat them" problem

 

[Scooter1A]

She is in the fridge right now, in the salt water. (Instead of ice water, I put it in the salt water and put the bucket in the fridge). I will take it out 15 hours later but I can't give you a proper comment about it's toughness because I don't have any other experience to compare salt water vs dry. The next time I will try both methods.

I'll also not cook it tomorrow, I'm planning to frost + defrost the meat to make it softer. Will it work? I have no idea. I'll try and see.

give the rabbit 2 to 3 days to go thru rigor

 

[Scooter1A]

Interesting to read about. Certainly I do not experience "bloody meat" But here in the western US we have the "bunnies are cute, how can you eat them" problem

cows are cute also

 

[Scooter1A]

BTW in my country when I tell someone that I raise rabbit for meat, they say that the rabbit meat contains too much blood. I don't know where this "rabbit meat is too bloody" myth comes from, it's very common urban legend in my country. I made some search in internet and it seems this myth is specific to my country. Many people refuse to eat rabbit meat because it is "too bloody". Even rabbit farmers admit that rabbitry cannot flourish in this country because of this myth.

I have a theory about the source of this myth, in our language (Turkish) both rabbits and hares are called rabbit (tavşan), many people think that this two are of the same species. Since actual rabbit meat is not common, the only "rabbit" that people happen to eat is the hares that hunted down by hunters. Hares are hunted by guns and hunters keep hares with them all day long. During all these hours the blood of so called "rabbit" (actually hare) coagulate. This is how this urban legend born. I have no other explanation for this myth.

interesting but good for you for being brave and finding out the truth, having this meat may just save your life and perhaps no one will want to steal it due to the stupid legend. question: is it cold there now?