If you want to cook rabbit, you’ll need to ensure that it’s of high quality. But how do you do this? In this guide I am going to explore the different ways of preparing and checking the health of a rabbit prior to cooking. Preparing rabbit for cooking is not very hard if you follow these steps.
I hope this guide helps you prepare rabbit for eating! I have a few friends who hunt rabbits and bring them down to my house. This is what I usually do with their catch. As you can see from the picture above, I have successfully cooked and eaten a rabbit before. It was delicious, so be sure to check out this guide if you’re interested in cooking rabbit for yourself too. Let’s get started!
Rabbits are often farmed for their meat. In fact, rabbits are one of the most commonly eaten types of meat sold around the world. And while many people prefer to consume rabbit in the U.S. as a pet or elsewhere as a food staple, you need to know how best to prepare rabbit for cooking.
Preparing rabbit for cooking is easy, and it’s a great way to get the most out of your game.
Rabbits are a great source of protein, and they taste delicious when cooked properly. Because of their small size, rabbits require less time to cook than other meats like beef or pork. This makes them an ideal option for camping trips or other situations where you might not have access to power for an extended period of time.
If you plan on eating the skin on your rabbit, make sure it’s thoroughly cleaned before you begin cooking so that there aren’t any pieces of dirt or hair stuck in between the fur. If you don’t plan on eating the skin, just cut it off with scissors before beginning your recipe.
The best way to cook rabbit is by frying it in oil over medium heat until golden brown on both sides; this should take about 10 minutes per side if you’re using a frying pan and about 15 minutes per side if using an oven (375 degrees). You can also bake them at 350 degrees for 30 minutes if desired; however, this method often results in dry meat
Cooking a rabbit is a simple process, but there are a few steps you’ll need to take before you start. First, thaw the rabbit in the refrigerator, not at room temperature. Once thawed, remove any excess fat from around the rabbit’s cavity. Cut off any ragged edges or fat that would burn while cooking. If you’re planning to use your rabbit for stewing or braising, cut off the legs and tie them together with kitchen twine so they’ll be easy to handle during cooking.
Preparing Rabbit For Cooking
What does pan roasted rabbit taste like
The Italians and French, and also Russians eat rabbit the way Americans eat chicken, which is to say, quite often. Rabbit meat is white and tender, and in taste is very comparable to chicken.
How to defrost a rabbit
Usually, you will buy a whole rabbit that is frozen. It’s important to let it defrost in a deep dish (whether it’s a baking pan or a large plate) inside the fridge, as the process of defrosting a whole rabbit will release quite a bit of liquid and you don’t want your fridge swimming in raw rabbit’s juices.
What skillet to use for pan seared rabbit?
Your pan needs to be at least 12 inches as you need space in order to get that nice color on the rabbit. Space them too closely and the liquid will have nowhere to go, which means no caramelization and steamed rabbit instead of pan seared rabbit.
Make sure to use a good heavy skillet here, such as cast iron and make sure it’s a large one too. I used 12 inch Lodge Pro-Logic Seasoned Cast Iron Skillet in this recipe – it’s well designed, has a helper handle and sloped sides – very sleek looking for cast iron! And it’s one of my most used kitchen tools!
A more traditional looking cast iron skillet that is also very well made is this 12 inch Lodge Cast Iron Skillet – it never sticks or leaves weird black dots like other cast iron skillets do. And it has over 9,000 positive reviews on Amazon:
It’s very easy to get that nice golden color on the rabbit when using a large cast iron pan.
How to cut up a rabbit
Butchering a rabbit is no harder than cutting up a chicken. In fact, I used regular large knife that wasn’t even sharpened recently and it was just fine.
Rabbit’s bones are thinner than chicken’s and it’s very easy to cut. Much easier than it looks.
Lay a whole rabbit on the cutting board and prepare a large knife.
Cut the rabbit in 4 parts: back legs, 2 pieces for the bust and another piece front legs. Then divide the leg pieces in two so that each piece was only one leg.
That’s it! It took me about 3 minutes.
How to cook rabbit
Make sure to use either sunflower oil or olive oil (not extra virgin olive oil, but regular cooking olive oil). Sunflower oil is a better choice here due to its high heating point, but if you don’t have it, olive oil will do a great job as well.
Add the rabbit pieces and sear them on all sides until it is all well browned (5 minutes per each side).
Be patient when pan searing the rabbit
It’s important to be patient when coloring the meat – don’t turn too often. Season the rabbit with salt and pepper while it’s cooking.
Let’s add rabbit pieces to the hot pan and start cooking!
Deglaze with wine
Make sure that the pan is on medium heat now. Season the rabbit again and deglaze with white wine to get all the caramelized juices from the bottom of the pan. After the wine evaporated, we’re left with syrupy substance of the wine. Now add chicken stock.
Roast the rabbit
Put the pan with the rabbit pieces into the preheated oven and roast for about 30 minutes until the internal temperature is about 140 to 145°F.
One thing to keep in mind is that the meat will continue to cook while it is resting, and the internal temperature will reach the desired temperature of about 150°F.