Cleaning rabbits

QuietH3art said:

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/hasenpfeffer

Ever have chicken and dumplings? Rabbit and dumplings tastes almost the same.

Chicken (or rabbit) and Dumplings
Whole Chicken
2 c flour
1/2 t salt
2 T crisco
1 c milk
Boil chicken on high for 1 hour. Remove chicken from broth and cool. Discard bones and skin. Return meat to broth. Mix flour, salt, crisco and milk together to form dough. Roll out and cut into thin strips. Add to broth and cook for 15 minutes on medium low.

I haven't made this in over 2 years since changing my diet, but with all the rain we've had lately, It's really tempting.

Click to expand...

Brent S said:

Thanks, I'll give it a try this week. I haven't made dumplings yet. I seem to remember my mother using canned biscuits. I loved the woman, but she really wasn't much of a cook!

Click to expand...

Brent S said:

View attachment 3259 View attachment 3258 View attachment 3257 View attachment 3256 View attachment 3255 View attachment 3254 View attachment 3253 View attachment 3252 View attachment 3251 Sorry, these Picts are in reverse order. First off, rabbits are really cute, so that's the hardest part of this whole deal. Just keep thinking barbeque! Utube has loads of videos on this, but my wife wasn't feeling well enough to video me so I just took Picts. as I went along. I don't have the heart to dispatch them by hand, so I use a pellet gun. One word of advice, rabbits have really sharp claws, so wear gloves when picking them up. I have several cuts, then on about rabbit number five I got soe leather work gloves and problem solved. I put them in a wire dog crate on the ground, with some food to distract them as I take aim. I choose a small paring knife and some good kitchen shears, but any knife will do. The first thing I do is use an axe and take off the head, then hang them by the back feet to drain. Now come skinning, which is really easy. Start with cutting around the legs, pinching the skin to get started. The only tricky part is cutting around the anus without contaminating the meat. Just be careful not to cut into the nasty areas. I start at each leg cut and just cut over to the other leg, both in front and behind the anus. The skin will just peel right on down the whole rabbit, with a little tugging. It leaves it in an inside out tube, which is great for freezing if you want to try tanning later on when you get enough pelts. You do want to rinse most of the blood off first, which is usually only around the neck area. I just cut the pelt off below the front feet and put in a plastic bag for freezing. Now is another spot where you want to be careful. I start at the anus and carefully start cutting around it to be able to pull it out from the front, just don't cut into it or the bladder. This is where a sharp knife helps. I also use the kitchen shears as there are some small bones between the thighs. Once you get past the crotch area the man body cavity is pretty easy. The organ cavity just kind of spills out when you open it, with a little tugging. Some eat the liver and heart, but I just discard the organs. I also loose the flank meat that's below the rib cage. When you get down to the breast/neck area just split it and finish pulling the heart and other organs out. I have a hose handy to rinse the bits of fur off while it's hanging still. The kitchen shears are great your cutting off the feet as they go right thru the bones. Now you have about two to three pounds of very lean fresh meat. It's probably better to cut the pieces apart before cooking if you want others to actually eat it. Somehow it's less personal if you can't recognize it's a buny. So far barbeque is my favorite, but I'm lookng for new ways to cook it. It tends to be tougher than chicken, so I found it's best to cook it slow and low, like in a crock pot, to keep it moist and tender. Hope this wasn't too graphic for most, but it is a great way to raise your own fresh meat. I'll be honest, The first time I did it it was disturbing, but now it's fairly easy. I just put about twenty pounds of fresh meat in the freezer, along with a large dominecker rooster that I get tired of having to fend off every time I went to feed the hens. Bon raappitete!

Click to expand...

QuietH3art said:

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/hasenpfeffer

Ever have chicken and dumplings? Rabbit and dumplings tastes almost the same.

Chicken (or rabbit) and Dumplings
Whole Chicken
2 c flour
1/2 t salt
2 T crisco
1 c milk
Boil chicken on high for 1 hour. Remove chicken from broth and cool. Discard bones and skin. Return meat to broth. Mix flour, salt, crisco and milk together to form dough. Roll out and cut into thin strips. Add to broth and cook for 15 minutes on medium low.

I haven't made this in over 2 years since changing my diet, but with all the rain we've had lately, It's really tempting.

Click to expand...

Silent Bob said:

Great Post, I just copied the whole post into a word document and saved it under Rabbits...appreciate the photo's, very detailed and very informative. Guess it saves me one step from my coach!




Thanks for the recipe Quiet...added it to Brent's Rabbit document...always good to have a different way to cook them, other than cooking them over an open fire. Have you tried it with a Dutch oven?

Click to expand...

QuietH3art said:

I don't own a dutch oven. I just do it in my stainless steel pot on the stove. I'm sure my grandmother made them in cast iron though. That was all she had.

Click to expand...

Silent Bob said:

Thanks Quiet...maybe I will play around with it..with the chicken recipe...easy to swap out rabbit..but I don't raise any domesticated rabbits right now to use them in a recipe.

Click to expand...

Silent Bob said:

Great Post, I just copied the whole post into a word document and saved it under Rabbits...appreciate the photo's, very detailed and very informative. Guess it saves me one step from my coach!




Thanks for the recipe Quiet...added it to Brent's Rabbit document...always good to have a different way to cook them, other than cooking them over an open fire. Have you tried it with a Dutch oven?

Click to expand...

Silent Bob said:

Thanks Quiet...maybe I will play around with it..with the chicken recipe...easy to swap out rabbit..but I don't raise any domesticated rabbits right now to use them in a recipe.

Click to expand...

Brent S said:

If you were closer I lend you a rabbit or two. I have a feeling ups dosent like boxes of rabbit!

Click to expand...