Tough Rabbits?

[Horrocks]

Shot some lovely youngsters yesterday, gutted and skinned them, this evening we wopped them on the barbeque after a good marinading, they cooked quickly.

We ended up with very tasty meat, but the hind legs were tough, though the saddle was lovely.

My question is, how do you get rid of that toughness, do you hang rabbit, and for how long?

Thanks

H

[Ozzy Fudd]

i usually soak them for 24 hours in salt water, makes them nice and tender

[Edward]

That is the best way I think

[Horrocks]

I've heard of that, so i'll give it a go, i thought that was to take the smell away though, my ganddad remembers hanging them for a day or two, how about that?

[libs]

Don't hang, just soak.

 

As said, 24 hours in salty water does wonders.

[miniwizard]

slow cooker,meat will just drop off the bone

[Billy.]

Soak them in salt water. All sorted after that

[jinxy72]

marinade them in a marinade which has a naturel yogurt base .... the yogurt helps to tenderise the meat

 

some good recipes been posted on here

Edited June 2, 2009 by jinxy72

[Markio]

When you say salt water, what salt to water ratio?

[henry d]

Personally I wouldn`t use salt or anything else like that as the salt draws out the moisture in the meat and as such will dry out and toughen it. I would go for a herb based oil marinade, olive oil, garlic and rosemary/thyme/tarragon perhaps a bit of lemon peel finely chopped(no white pith).

[Westcountryman]

I don't think BBQing rabbit will do it any favours, as its so fat free.

 

When I do chicken legs on the BBQ, I cook them in the oven for 20 mins first, in the marinade, then finish them on the BBQ so they are cooked properly but not dried out.

[marlin vs]

I can never get the leg's to turn out edible on the BBQ , what I do is I marinade the saddles , but I boil the leg's and take them out after about 15 minutes and then BBQ the legs for a very short while, give it a go it's just trial and error.

[PaulABF]

Personally I wouldn`t use salt or anything else like that as the salt draws out the moisture in the meat and as such will dry out and toughen it. I would go for a herb based oil marinade, olive oil, garlic and rosemary/thyme/tarragon perhaps a bit of lemon peel finely chopped(no white pith).

 

Agree with Henry. Salt turns it into leather. Lemon or lime in a marinade breaks down the meat and tenderises it. Nice flavour too.

[ODG]

If you're going to bbq them, wrap them in foil parcels with oil, herbs etc, or some marinade. Keep as much moisture in the package as you can.

 

I did a 'Hunter-Gatherer' course a few years back; half a dozen hares were lamped and paunched the previous evening, and we skinned and butchered them the next morning. The saddles were cut into medallions and flash fried on a skillet with some oil, salt & pepper, the legs wrapped in foil with some olive oil, herbs & seasoning and some mushrooms and walnuts we'd foraged, then placed around the edges of the fire to cook slowly. We also took one of the hares and spit-roasted it - most of the group had suggested that that's how they would have cooked it. The saddle was better than best fillet steak, the meat on the legs was tender and tasty - the spit roasted hare was tough as old boots!

[Highlander]

It's not the rabbit that's the probelm, it's the BBQ. Most game apart from wildfowl maybe has very little fat on it and that's the problem when BBQing it and the reason it's tough. Try cooking using a different method first then if you must have it BBQd just stick on BBQ for the last few seconds to give it some flavour.

[Sauer]

either unsaltd water i use or full fat milk!!!

 

also another recipe as said i use rabbit pieces in a bowl add juice of a big lemon or few splashes o lemon juice from a bottle...

 

then cover with natural yoghurt ( enyzmes in yoghurt apparently brilliant natural tenderiser for meat)

 

add either ...curry powder if you want tandoori type flavour

 

or

 

bbq seasoning type flavour or whatever

 

cover bowl cling film leave overnite in fridge

 

next day heat oven as hot as will go then whackin on bakin tray for 10 minutes in top of oven or untill ends slighlyt charred no more

 

superb

 

 

sauer