Rabbit Recipes - Recipes for Rabbit, Hare and Squirrel | Hank Shaw (2024)

FAQs

Can you cook rabbit and squirrel together? ›

The cooking time for your gumbo is about two hours on a low simmer and any meat you put in will be fall-off-the-bone tender by the time it's done. In a large skillet, add some oil and start browning the sausage and the rabbit and squirrel pieces.

The best way to get tender rabbit meat is by butchering them around the 12-week mark (depending on the breed) and cooking them low and slow. A crockpot is a fantastic way of cooking rabbit for tender, fall-off-the-bone meat.

Raw hare meat is a deep reddish brown colour, juicy and has fine fibres. Compared to the mild flavour of rabbit meat, which tastes a little like fowl, hare meat is distinctly more gamey. The leg and back are particularly popular cuts of meat.

Citrus and Mediterranean herbs always blend well. Rabbit can dry out quite easily, but roasting it in olive oil preserves its delicacy and flavor.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), all meats obtained from mammals (regardless of cut or age) are red meats because they contain more myoglobin, which gives them their red color, than fish or white meat (but not necessarily dark meat) from chicken.

Hares have darker, richer and more flavoursome meat than rabbits. For roasting, they're best eaten young (a 'leveret' is a hare under one year old). After this they need slow-cooking (and the legs generally suit slow-cooking recipes even in a young hare). Use whatever game you can get for this tasty terrine recipe.

Rabbit's low popularity also stems from the agricultural industry as a whole. Many farm animals had dual purposes or were low maintenance to raise and breed, making them staples of the agricultural industry. Chickens provide eggs, pigs live off waste products and scraps, and cows provide milk.

Wild rabbit meat, which is leaner and tastier than the farmed variety, has a fabulous subtle, gamey flavour (very different from richly flavoured hare).

If you are cooking rabbit parts, try the saddle or loin, which are the most tender of the cuts. The front legs are tiny and are best to set aside for stock or stew. The hind legs are tough and almost always need a moist braise.

A Brine Keeps the Rabbit Moist

And while the combination seasons the rabbit nicely, the buttermilk and salt give you a little wiggle room to ensure that the cooked rabbit doesn't dry out.

What season can you not eat rabbit? ›

It's unsafe to eat wild rabbits or hares before the first hard frost of the year. If you eat a wild rabbit sooner, the meat will have parasites.

Bake uncovered in the preheated oven, basting frequently, until very tender, about 90 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the meat nearest the bone should read at least 160 degrees F (72 degrees C).

Switching your rabbits' diet safely

Start by mixing a small amount of new food with current food – gradually increase the amount of new food and reduce the amount of old food each day, until they have fully transitioned.

In summary, while a real hybrid between a rabbit and squirrel is fictional, we can imagine it would blend traits from both species in unique ways.

The front legs (shoulders) hind legs and saddle (which contain the loins) are the most popular cuts eaten from squirrels. If cooked properly they are just as tender as dark-meat chicken and can even be shredded off of the bone.

Vegetable scraps that you want to avoid giving wild rabbits include potato and potato vines, tomato vines (the fruit is okay), anything related to onions (including garlic), corn, beans, nuts, and avocado.