Recipe: Braised Rabbit

Braised rabbit with potatoes.

Frozen, local, farm-raised rabbit at the Manchester Market.

You may have noticed something new in the frozen meat cooler along the back wall of the Manchester Market, local farm raised rabbits! They are from the Water Crest Rabbitry in Eaton Rapids, north-west of Jackson and are about $22 each.

After I bought one, I read many rabbit recipes trying to find one that was from frozen so I could cook it for dinner that night but I could not. Finally, I decided to use my tried and true method of cooking frozen chicken but using the flavors from the rabbit recipes I’d read. This is what I came up with. It was easy and really delicious.

The key to cooking a rabbit this way is to have a large enough oven-safe pot with a lid. I used a camping cast iron dutch oven.  If you don’t have a dutch oven or large, oven-safe pot with a lid, I think a pyrex baking pan with aluminum foil over the top sealed around the edges would work.

Something I discovered about cooking a rabbit is that you have enough leftovers to make at least one or two more meals. (I made rabbit pot-pie and rabbit noodle soup with the leftovers).

 Braised Rabbit 

1 frozen rabbit

2 Tablespoons oil or fat (I used bacon grease)

1 quart of broth (I used chicken but I bet beef would be even better)

3/4 cup red wine

2 bay leaves

10 black peppercorns

2 large cloves of garlic

4 large potatoes, scrubbed and cut into eighths.

2 large carrots, scrubbed and slicked into 1 inch lengths

2 stalks celery, scrubbed and slicked into 1 inch lengths

1 medium onion, roughly chopped

salt, to taste

1. Pre-heat oven to 400F. Put oil in the bottom of the dutch oven. Remove rabbit from packaging and place on oil. Add broth, wine, bay leaves, peppercorns, garlic and a couple of dashes of salt. Put lid on and bake until rabbit is cooked and meat pulls away from the bone.

2. Check periodically to make sure all the liquid hasn’t cooked off. Flip the rabbit part way through cooking time. Add a cup of extra broth or water if the liquid is in danger of all cooking away.

3. Once the rabbit is cooked, taste liquid and add salt if needed. Add potatoes, carrots, celery and onion, replace lid and bake for (about) 15- 20 min. When veggies are just cooked (not mushy), remove lid and bake until browned and most of the remaining liquid (if there is any left) is cooked away.

Braised rabbit is so tender, the meat falls off the bone.

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.