I've cooked with wild rabbit a couple of times. Nice flavour, slightly gamey, pain in the arse navigating the bones.

Boil it, pick off the meat, stick it in a pie. Trust me.

>>2741
That sounds like a very good idea. Boil in salt? Plain rabbit/gravy pie?

>>2742 no boil it in water

badabing badaboom

nah mate I normally make things up as I go in the kitchen depending on what I have available. I'd suggest boiling it with an onion, celery carrot,... you know usual stock stuff you have laying around, pick the meat off and throw the carcass back in the pot and boil it for a few hours to create a stock. maybe add some herps you have lying around, thyme, bay leaf, rosemary.. whole peppercorns etc.

strain it, throw in half a bottle of red wine reduce... if you need to thicken it use corn flour, butter will give it gloss.

throw in the meat, stick in a dish (pic related) top with puff pastry egg wash the top, bung in the oven

erm serve with new potatos and string beans

don't forget to season to taste

Rabbit is very nice in a stew, failing that yeah a gravy and rabbit pie is delicious.

tells you how to gut it which you dont really need... but it tells you how to prepare/cook it etc

I had rabbit for the first time in dim sum last night. I quite fancy making a rabbit pie. Mmm. Pie.

Catch one yourself with trap or whatever.

If you're struggling with catching a rabbit, a squirrel is also nice. One wound up in my rabbit trap and it made a fine stew. Tasted far less gamey than I would've expected, closer to chicken than rabbit.

>>2749
I've been tempted to raise rabbits for meat, but trapping them? Got any success stories? Also, got any hints as for the legal implications?

>>2749

I hope you are catching grey squirrels.

>>2754

You'll need permission from whomever owns the land you are trapping on and you'll have to do it humanely. Other than that you only have to look out for diseased ones. If you do see a mixie one then it's considered a solemn duty to kill the poor soul and save it from a worse fate.

Air guns are often used on rabbits. If you are a bad shot then I wouldn't advise it though as you don't want to only wound one.

I used to trap along a part of the local railway line, simple wire noose on an obvious rabbit run will get you dinner. Set up a few in a high population area, check on it once a day. you may still need to give em a whack. You could go for more complicated traps that require some setup but heck why complicate matters.

inb4 cruel bastard

What do you do with the... insides?

>>2758 keep the kidneys, liver and heart, fry them and nomnomnom while waiting for the pie to cook, de-licious. or use them with the lungs in a stock.

Compost the rest or brown bin it.

I used to go out lamping for rabbits or take the ferrets to chase them out of the warren with nets over the holes. I've only really had it in stew or pies. The meat can be rather tough so boiling it really softens up the meat, though it sometimes can be very sinewy if you've got a slightly older rabbit.

squirrel - http://forums.pigeonwatch.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=14942

You should eat some of the organs of a rabbit. You get more nutrition out of it that way.

>I hope you are catching grey squirrels.
I live in a very rural location, but I haven't seen a red squirrel since I was a kid.

>>2763

They are still present up the north end of Britain and on some islands, thankfully.

>>2764 do you really care? do you? seriously they are just tree rats, less meaty than the grays and too flipping shy... no red squirrel will eat my nuts no matter how still I sit, I'll never forgive them for that.

>>2765

THEY SIT IN TREES, JUDGING, MOCKING US FROM THEIR VANTAGE POINT. LOOKING DOWN AT US WITH THEIR POINTY WHISKERED NOSES. OH HOW CRUEL THEY ARE.

Well, I'm convinced. I'll get two rabbits tomorrow and stew the meat and process the meat afterwards. Failing that, I'll just get some Cumberland sossidge.

>>2739

>>2779

I'd eat her.

>>2739
yeah, i make welsh rarebit all the time

Who the fuck has the time to be out catching rabbits when you can buy them pre-skinned and gutted for £1.50 a pair at any local butchers?.

I don't even have time to make proper coffee.

>>3098
Im sure some of the thrill is in the hunting of the rabbits

All being well I should be getting a brace of pheasants tomorrow - feathers and all I believe.

If /nom/ wishes I will document the procedure...

>>3103

sure :)

>>3103
Yes please!

>feathers and all
You may come to regret not getting someone to deal with the feathers for you.

>>3121
Well, wear gloves (Marygolds will do), but other than that? Can't be that much harder than plucking a chicken and that's easy enough, even if it takes some patience and effort.

You know, OPs rabbit looks like it was dead for a few days before the picture was taken.

Is Rigor Mortis a delicious time?

>>3131
You're aware that most meat is "matured" for at least a week? As it happens, it's just an image that came up when googling for "skinned rabbit". It looks more like a plastic model than a real rabbit.

So... this is what I got

I did the cock first (hurr) though took pictures at different points on each bird, so will post them as if it was just one bird.

Decided to skin them, the feathers were easy enough to remove to see the skin to make the incision, but I live in a flat with a small kitchen and feathers everywhere seemed like a bad idea. I probably would have plucked if I had an outside to do it in.

Here's the first bit of peeling of skin on the hen

and here's a bit more of the skin peeled back

The feet were chopped off, and I didn't bother going round the wings as it was more faff for little meat.

End up with feathers round the neck & head and feathers round the parsons nose and arsehole

close up of the head

The meat doesn't look all that dark, are the birds fresh or has the meat been matured.

Here hare here

The head was easy to remove, I went carefully round the crop and then chopped through the neck.

With the back end you have yo follow round the vent and then insert fingers in to either end to loosen the connective tissue between the innards and the body cavity.

With the cock there was then some shaking to get the guys out, but with then hen I managed to hook the whole lot out in one deft move.

What I'm left with is this :)

I may further butcher them down to panfry the breasts, and may casserole the legs and make a stock with the rest - any other suggestions?

>>3140

They're fresh, I will be leaving them for a couple days before cooking - didn't want to leave them with the intestines etc in as wasn't sure if they'd been shot through and more importantly I don't have anywhere to hang them that's cool enough as I live in a flat. If I had a garage I may have left them for a couple days.

>>3145
It doesn't need to be all that cold to keep them to let them mature. In a fairly warm enviroment the meat turns quicker, than in a cold one. I just leave them in my garage until I spot the first maggot and get to cleaning it. plucking them is easier if you soak the birds in boiling hot water for a few minutes, this causes the skin to loosen up slightly and the feathers come off easily enough. Since the feathers will be fairly wet they on't go flying everywhere either, making it easier to clean up afterwards.

>>2739Over a slow wood fire. Don't just do one, do 3 or 4. I used to hunt deer and when I left camp I would put on 3 or 4 about 2 foot over the fire come back at 12:00pm or so and move them around so they cook the same. No salt or pepper! I had a bud that raised them and thats how I got them.
And no it does not taste like chicken! Hope this helps.

>>3229
> And no it does not taste like chicken
I didn't mean that it would taste like chicken, just that it should probably work in recipes that normally use chicken.

>>3144

Pheasant person, how did this turn out?

And no it does not taste like chicken!...I didn't mean it that way, was just saying. And yes, use like chicken, nice and lean.

>>3232

I did as I thought, de-breasted, panfried them in olive oil and black pepper.

Roast spuds and kale and carrots to serve, boiled up legs and carcass with onion and seasoning to make stock with which I deglazed the frying pan to make a rich gravy - was boss