Rabbit Recipes
A Natural Harvest, Preparing and cooking the wild rabbit
Our country is under siege from the ever increasing rabbit population. As the monetary damage increases, the traditional methods of control are seemingly on the increase, especially those that can consistently deliver a good, clean rabbit as is the case with ferreting with nets.
Although legally a pest, in culinary terms it is a wild meat and therefore classed as game. Game is a term given to a bird or animal that has been hunted for sport in order to be eaten. The image of the hunter/gatherer pursuing their quarry in order to bag a nutritious meal conjures a romantic image, many of which have inspired some of our greatest works of art. The excitement of the chase was what many of our predecessors excelled upon and the end result for many were irrelevant; they went out for the thrill of the hunt. In a different vein, poachers went out to catch in order to sell on or feed their immediate families on land of which they had no permission and if caught the penalty was very harsh. Although the adrenalin rush, tension and atmosphere of their escapades were different, they were in the results game and if they had an exciting night but came home with very little or were disturbed and came home empty handed, it was looked upon as a failure whereas the sporting way was to gorge on the rush of adrenalin but this has never fed anyone. Poached rabbits kept many a family surviving during the harsh times in our history. When times were hard, every rabbit made the difference between going hungry and eating a meal, this feeling is something of which we cannot truly understand or appreciate in this day and age. But to bypass the historical facts behind hunting, the real motivation behind hunting was our stomachs, we needed to catch some thing edible to eat in order to survive and evolve like any other predatory specie.
The French restaurateur, Fernand Point had a simple philosophy
"If the divine creator has taken pains to give us delicious and exquisite things to eat, the least we can do is prepare them well and serve them with ceremony"
I have spoken to so many people who were put of eating rabbit by their parent or grandparents because it was cooked and presented wrongly. Unlike the population abroad, it appears that the nation’s cooks have just recently started to fall back in love with cooking rabbit. Unlike our ancestors the vast majority of those reading this who wants to cook rabbit will hunt no further than the farmers market, butcher, game dealer or local sportsman. Luckily the by-product of my profession is an abundance of clean rabbit meat, so learning to appreciate it fully has come of a bit of a surprise to me. Rabbit recipes appear to be in vogue at the moment so as Rabbit Recipes starts, who knows just where it will go and on what tangent it will follow onto. I am as surprised as anybody else to find out how many different ways and recipes they are available to make full use of our caught rabbits and although you can use farmed rabbit for these recipes, the slightly gamier, stronger taste of the wild variety is often the popular choice.
With a low fat content and a high protein count along with being a good source of iron, phosphorus, vitamin B12 and niacin, the rabbit is a healthy alternative to the customary poultry, pork, beef or lamb. Their meat is white and has 795 calories per pound. This compares favourably to chicken at 810, veal at 840, turkey at 1190, lamb at 1420, beef at 1440 and pork at 2050. Rabbit meat also has the highest percentage of protein and a lower percentage of fat than chicken, turkey, beef, or pork. (U S D A circular # 549) The cholesterol level in rabbit meat is also much lower than chicken, turkey, beef, pork. Research shows that rabbit meat has been recommended for special diets such as for heart disease patients, diets for the elderly, low sodium diets, and weight reduction diets. Because it is easily digested, it has been recommended by doctors for patients who have trouble eating other meats. (Alabama A & M University 1989)
In the UK at present we have an estimated 45 million rabbits that although cost an estimated 150 million pounds worth of damage each year, very few are eaten here but sent abroad where the different countries value highly their meat. In the UK, the majority of our wild rabbits are exported, in the UK only around 2-3000 tonnes per annum are produced, the majority farmed and a further 5000 tonnes imported from China, Hungary and Poland. The reluctance to eat wild rabbit meat is still evident in the UK over half a century since the initial outbreak of myxomatosis. This reluctance goes against the logic of eating cattle after BSE and Blue Tongue, lamb and pork after Foot and Mouth and poultry after Bird Flu. Ironically, in France where the myxomatosis outbreak came from, the rabbit is utilised nationally as a food source with an average consumption of 4kg per head in the population.
Up until the fifties when myxomatosis changed how our nation viewed eating rabbit meat, it was a valuable commodity and regular trains were laid on to transport thousands of rabbit carcases from all over the UK to markets such as Smithfields in London. After myxomatosis hit the UK, all rabbits sold for a few years were sold with their head still attached to prove it was a healthy rabbit and not infected.
As we progress into the 21st century we are always looking for a healthier option rather than the cheap, mass-produced convenience food that is turning our nation into obese couch potatoes. Convenience food has replaced the traditional family meal as fewer families are sitting down together at the table to eat home-cooked meals. Such meals provided an excellent opportunity for conversation and for children to be taught manners and social skills. However, eating alone usually results in eating a meal that is less nutritional than that of a traditional meal eaten as a group. The Sunday roast gave such an opportunity but our society is growing up in complete ignorance of what a healthy meal is and how to prepare one.
Alarmingly with the rise in popularity and reliance upon convenience food it is no surprise that the nation’s health is suffering along with it the ability to cook appropriate, nutritious food, especially off the bone. In the 1950’s the average household parted with 30% of its weekly income on food, today it is a mere 10%. Falling into the trap of conveniently going down to the supermarket on an evening after work is turning the nation lazy. Not content with purchasing meat produced from farms with low welfare standards, this mass-produced food is lower in price due to its foreign origin, another setback for the nations struggling farmers. The reliance upon eating pre-packed food and take aways accounts for 50% of food consumed in this country.
Because of this downward trend in healthy eating, the media has helped educate the nation on what is a healthier diet. Rabbit meat is growing in popularity in the same vein as most game; especially as the popular press and the television celebrity chefs are leaning towards using such environmentally friendly, free-range product. Rabbit is once again in vogue and this signifies the true meaning of the hunter-gatherer. Even the staunchest of opponent of country pursuits find it hard to present a sensible argument against the fundamentals of pastimes and profession such as ferreting. I can justify what I do by providing an environmentally friendly, non-toxic method of legitimate pest control and using the rabbits caught as food for both human and animal consumption, nothing is wasted.
From Michelin rated restaurants to the small country cottage in complete solitude, the rabbit is once more being re-introduced to the dining table. Cost and convenience will always be a major factor in the household shopping budget and choice of food consumed but when it comes to nutrimental value; the rabbit ticks all the right boxes.
As our society changes, new legislation has been introduced at the time of writing, if the carcases are to be sold on from the 1st of January 2006, new rules have come in which must be observed by individuals who supply game and venison (sale or gift). The rules are required to meet a European directive on food safety and are being supervised by the Food Standards Agency (FSA). Organisations such as B.A.S.C. (British Association for Shooting and Conservation) run courses on this subject and to ensure whatever quarries you are after you stay within the law. The requirement for training comes from an EC regulation (853/2004) which aims to improve food hygiene standards across the European Union. The murky world of governmental legislation will have no doubt prevented the individual sportsman to sell their wares in fear of falling foul of the local environmental health officer. The days of catching and selling rabbits to anyone at anytime in any condition have well and truly been left behind.
© Copyright Pakefield Ferrets 2009