Domestic Rabbit is Good Food

When we first got these bunnies it was in hope of using their droppings as garden fertilizer.
Now we are thinking of raising meat rabbits. We have been kicking around the idea for a while but after some serious fighting amongst our bucks 3 weeks ago, I butchered 2 of them.
I have raised rabbits as pets before, and never considered eating them. But I decided to try it and see how well I liked domestic rabbit meat. I have eaten wild rabbits and thought they were good, but somehow I had the idea that tame rabbit wasn't as good.

Boy was I wrong.

Since butchering them I have been waiting to cook them, trying to get over the fact of eating a pet. But it really is no different than eating our chickens. And surprisingly, I prefer them to our chickens.


I fried the bigger of the two for dinner last night. It dressed out at 3lbs. 11oz. (the other is 3lbs. 5oz.) and I was expecting it to be tough, as it was a lot older than the usual frying rabbit. I was wrong again.
My first bite was unbelievable. The fine grained meat was about as tender as chicken and had a delicate flavor. So much better than wild rabbit.


Before I did any cooking I went online and found some surprising information and some good recipes. One site was "My Bunny Farm" where I found this:





Domestic Rabbit Meat - Eat Better, Cleaner and Healthier!


Rabbit meat is an all white meat (as in pork chops, not chicken i.e.), fine grained, mild in flavor and can be substituted for any veal or poultry recipe. Rabbit meat is higher in protein, but lower in fat, uric acid, cholesterol, sodium and calories than any other meat. It is easily digested and a lot of doctors recommend rabbit meat when red meat is restricted in diets.

Very good news indeed. I am looking forward to making rabbit a staple food at our house.

So I am now planning on getting some meat breed rabbits, and plan on raising lots of them over the summer. A doe rabbit can be bred about once a month and the rabbits reach fryer stage at about 13 weeks old. I believe they are easier to butcher than chickens too. So look for more information on rabbits as my plans develop. I can hardly wait to try some of the recipes I found for rabbit meat: jerky, smoked, hamburg, sausage, BBQ'd, Oriental style, Creole, etc., etc., etc.