Taylor Pond Farms

I'm pretty certain I don't go a month without someone emailing or asking me about the right way to break down one critter or another, and while we have been butchering that lamb not too long ago several people requested learn how to reduce up a rabbit.

Butchering a rabbit is certainly tougher than reducing up a chicken. Actually, that motive - along with a barely greater feed-to-meat ratio, is why America became a nation of chicken-eaters and never rabbit-eaters. The question was truly unsure  a century ago.

Now meat rabbit production in the US is less than half what it was even in 1985, and we eat only about 17,000 tons a yr, in accordance with one 2005 survey - examine that with Italy's 300,000 tons. Buon Appetito!

The buttermilk fried rabbit you see above is now largely a Southern novelty or a hunter's special. Pity, as a result of it's each bit as delicious as an ideal fried chicken.

Many of the rabbits and hares Holly and I eat are wild cottontails or jackrabbits, though an occasional snowshoe hare or home rabbit finds its approach to our table. And it's a domestic I made a decision to work with for this tutorial.

Why butcher your personal rabbits? They're cheaper, sometimes a full $1.50 a pound less than a pre-portioned bunny. Additionally, if you are raising your personal or are a hunter, this is good information to know.

First you need a really sharp knife: I take advantage of a Global flexible boning knife, however a paring knife or a fillet knife would additionally work, as would a chef's knife. I also use a Wusthof cleaver and a pair of kitchen shears. Have a clear towel helpful to wipe your fingers, and a bowl for trimmings.

Begin by choosing over the carcass for silverskin and sinew, and slice it off. You'll be doing quite a lot of this, but you may as well get began with the easy stuff.

I always start by removing the front legs, which are not connected to the physique by bone. Slide your knife up from beneath, along the ribs, and slice through.

Normally there may be some schmutz (a technical term) connected to the entrance leg that doesn't appear to be good eats: fats, sinew, and basic non-meaty stuff. All can go into pate if you are so inclined. Or you can toss it.

Subsequent comes the belly. A lot of people ignore this half, but when you concentrate on it, it's rabbit bacon! And who doesn't like bacon? In practice, this stomach flap turns into a beautiful boneless bit in whatever dish you might be making.

I start by turning Mr. Bunny over and slicing right alongside the line the place the saddle (or loin) starts, then working the knife alongside that edge to the ribs. Whenever you get to the ribcage, you fillet the meat off the ribs, as far as you may go, which is normally the place the front leg used to be. End by trimming more schmutz off the edge.

Up next, the hind legs, which are the cash reduce in a rabbit. Hunters take observe: Aim far ahead on a rabbit, as a result of even should you shoot up the loin, you really want the hind legs clear - they could be a full 40 p.c of a gutted carcass' weight.

Start on the underside and slice gently along the pelvis bones until you get to the ball-and-socket joint. Once you do, grasp either finish firmly and bend it again to pop the joint. Then slice across the back leg together with your knife to free it from the carcass.

Once you've achieved each legs, you're left with the loin, which is the most persnickety. It's really the rabbit loin vs. rooster breast thing that did it in for the bunny as a significant meat animal - there's a bigger swath of boneless meat in a rooster than in a rabbit. Both generally tend to dry out, however then there's that scrumptious chicken skin…

Now is an efficient time to remove a little extra silverskin. The back of the loin has a number of layers, and most need to be removed. The ultimate layer is very tough to cut off, and I typically leave it. On a large hare or jackrabbit, nevertheless, this layer needs to go, too.

You're now able to portion the saddle. Ever heard the expression "long in the saddle?" It is an animal husbandry term: A longer stretch of saddle or loin means extra excessive-dollar cuts come slaughter time. And meat rabbits have been bred to have a really lengthy saddle compared to wild cottontails.

Start by eradicating the pelvis, which is really finest  in the stockpot. I do this by taking my cleaver severing the backbone by banging the cleaver down with the meat of my palm. I then bend the whole shebang backwards and end the reduce with the boning knife.

Now you seize your kitchen shears and snip off the ribs, right on the line the place the meat of the loin starts. The ribs go into the stockpot, too.

Guess what? There's extra silverskin to slice off. Could you do it multi functional fell swoop? You bet, but it's delicate work and I like to break it up to keep my mental edge: The reason for all this delicate work is as a result of the loin is softer than the silverskin, and if you happen to prepare dinner it with the pores and skin on, it can contract and push the loin meat out both side. Ugly. And apart from, if you're making Kentucky Fried Rabbit, who needs to eat sinew?

Your last step is to chop the loin into serving pieces. I do that through the use of my boning knife to slice a information line through to the spine. Then I give the spine a whack with the cleaver by laying the cleaver blade on the spine and whacking it with the meat of my palm.

And voila! A bunny reduce into numerous delicious serving pieces.

What about the offal, you say? I'll do more on that later, however suffice to say rabbit livers and hearts are just about like these of a chicken. The kidneys are scrumptious, too. Take away the fats (rabbit fats tends to be foul-tasting) and peel the almost-invisible membrane off the kidney earlier than cooking. (Here is a rabbit kidney recipe I call Marsh, Mountain and Field.)

What to do together with your newly portioned rabbit? Nicely, you possibly can flick thru my rabbit recipes. However since Holly and I so rarely get to eat home rabbit, which we all know will likely be tender, I made a decision to fry it like a chicken.

I used my buddy Elise's buttermilk fried hen as a model, though I kicked up the paprika and spices a bit. Right here is my fried rabbit recipe. With an ice cold beer, it was each bit nearly as good because it looks!