I am pleased with myself tonight I made rabbit pie. I shot the rabbit on Friday it was a fairly big Doe It spent Friday night in the fridge then on Saturday I skinned and washed the carcase and soaked it overnight in salt water this morning I rinsed it and put it in the crockpot with a bunch of fresh sage rosemary anda few bay leaves and a good slurp of Feijoa and apple cider. At lunchtime I turned it off(3 hours cooking on high) later in the afternoon I took out the cooled rabbit and stripped it of meat. Then in a pot I cooked a good handful of fatty bacon and once that was browned added a chopped onion and sauted that with some chopped garlic and ginger then a chopped carrot and Parsnip then put in the stock from the crockpot and another half cup of cider I simmered that until the root veg were tender then added in the rabbit meat and 2 teaspoons of cornflour in another half cup of cider to thicken this was brought to the boil then left to simmer for a few minutes a couple of cups of frozen peas were added. In a deep metal pie dish I lined it with flakey Puff pastry(not homemade) and added the filling then put on a lid of pastry and an egg wash then baked for 35min at 180 fan bake. End result was really nice pastry was golden and flakey and filling was delicious I was able to take it out of the pie dish onto a big plate for servingmmmmdefinitely going to that one again, rabbit is definitely NZ’s most underrated game meat :) Oh to add this is my first Pie ever and recipe was basically a combination of all the googled knowledge I could find.
margyr,
Aug 8, 7:01am
Well done! ! ! i know rabbit is yummy but on the couple of occassions i have been served it i have just not been able to eat it, silly i know.
winnie231,
Aug 8, 7:07am
That sounds absolutely delicious beaker & you have every right to brag! I love cooking rabbit ... my daughter calls my rabbit & veg pie "Peter in the vege patch"!
beaker59,
Aug 8, 7:13am
Being a doe I couldn't call it "Peter in a vege patch" this time but I do like the name :)
greerg,
Aug 8, 7:14am
Sounds delicious - have two rabbits I was given in the freezer that need to come out. I'll definitely try this with them.
ferita,
Aug 8, 7:15am
Great job ! !
kirinesha,
Aug 8, 7:17am
I love rabbit pie! I'm so jealous!
beaker59,
Aug 8, 7:24am
Go for it Greerg this good sized rabbit made a pie big enough to feed 4 big eaters so your 2 rabbits will feed a good sized family with leftovers for lunch next day.
52many,
Aug 8, 8:20am
Any tips on skinning it? I think that would be the hardest part for me. Like do you chop off the head? Do you pull out the guts? Like the heart, liver intestines etc? Step by step would be goooooodddddd! ! ! ! Like your way! ! ! Not googled. Experience is good! ! ! Well done and good on YOU! ! !
beaker59,
Aug 8, 8:32am
Skinning is easy, gut first and yes usually I keep liver and kidneys but this one was a tad shot up so left those bits this time. I got this one with my 12g shotgun so lots of little holes though surprisingly the meat was fine and very little lost. Chop off head and feet then make a small cut in skin in center of back put two fingers from each hand into the hole and pull skin apart it will tear around the rabbit and then come off at both ends easily leaving a nice clean carcase. I like to gut in the field then skin in the kitchen when I get home so the carcase stays nice and clean.
52many,
Aug 8, 8:41am
Ohhhh welll. I've just told the hubby and he said he'd done it once years ago and what you wrote, rang a bell... . . Yayyyyyyyy. So guess who is going shooting next weekend! ! ! Won't have to buy any more chicken for a while! ! ! ! More money saved! ! ! ! ! Sorry bunnies and close your ears, oh pet one! ! ! ! !
tehenga288,
Aug 8, 8:53am
yummmm- that sounds so good. Can't wait to try it
uli,
Aug 8, 9:18am
I usually skin first while still warm - takes all of 2 minutes LOL - then gut, wash and cool and keep in fridge for about 3 days (very cold fridge! ). Then cook.
I start skinning at the back legs, then pull skin over the body and head and the head and front paws will be inside the skin bag, ready to be buried under a nice fat cabbage to come ...
beaker59,
Aug 8, 9:26am
2 Min is ages, mine get done much faster than that ;) yes like all animals gut fast as possible and cool quick. Specially if shot with shotgun as there is often gut perforation.
Important question though Uli do you find an improvement in the meat with the chilling for 3 days if so how please is it taste texture etc.
uli,
Aug 8, 9:33am
Yep - if wild rabbit or wild goat then it is much "softer" to cook. However it needs to be cold - 2 or 3 degrees max!
beaker59,
Aug 8, 9:42am
OK I have always done that with Goat and venison maybe even longer up to 2 weeks or more with venison and a week for goats. But have never tried it with rabbits mind you I only just started keeping and eating rabbits. I don't age wild pork and next season I will have a go with wild ducks quail etc so will try them aged and not.
genpat,
Aug 8, 2:44pm
Sounds good. Never understood why NZ rabbits were not used as food when they eat the best grass in the world. My mother and family would have starved during the war in Europe without such food. Well done to you!
darlingmole,
Aug 8, 8:07pm
hey beaker ~ where do you get your feijoa and apple cider vinegar from please? ...
beaker59,
Aug 8, 8:57pm
From the supermarket Darling its a cider notvinegar and a very nice drink. Brand we get is called "Old Mout" its made in Nelson according to the label. PaknSav Albany definately stock it in thier wine section and its reasonably cheap.
purplegoanna,
Aug 8, 9:33pm
Q: to uli & beaker, we have them at our place, we're city fringe/industrial/country, we have started shooting them as theyre getting out of control and ringbarking the trees etc, we have a malamute dog who thinks theyre devine and as far as im concerned its really good natural food for him, if he already had his dinner i put them in the fridge until the next evening but someone has told hubby that he must remove the offal from it other wise it can go bad over nite? (personally i think thats wrong cause if in the wild the dog was to bury the rabbit it could have the offal left inside for any amount of time)
levintofu,
Aug 8, 10:10pm
how do you know if they aren't sick? i have lots (counted at least 7 one morning) running across our section (like within 200ms of our back deck) i always wondered about eating wild animals... but being new to this semi-rural thing... questioned the health of said animals. apparently the city council are laying rabbit traps in several major reserves about 10ks from our house so there must be tonnes of these bunnies around
beaker59,
Jan 8, 6:19am
Sorry can't help with Dogs not something I know much about but I have seen some dogs eat some really discusting stuff with apparent immunity.
As for sick ones I check the liver for lesions and have a general look around inside but if the animal looks fit and healthy they should be fine they are well cooked anyway EH! I have found sick goats before and just leave them on the hill usually its footrot. HAve yet to find a sick bunny.
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