3:00 snapshot #755

[urbpan]

This is the kind of thing we have at the zoo that I walk by a million times and don't think about any more, but when I stop and look at it I think, man that's really cool.

I made rabbit stew today and learned a few things. Rabbits taste like chicken, more or less, which is what everyone says about every meat that's not one of the big three. Rabbits are mostly made of very small bones. Modern people have gotten use to eating food that either has no bones, or has big obvious bones you eat the meat off of. (I guess people who eat fish are used to the many little bones in fishes, but I rarely touch the stuff.) Rabbit, like all meat that isn't one of the big 3 (or turkey), comes with sticker shock. It probably costs closer to what meat should cost, if animal agriculture was composed of small scale farms that treated animals like animals and not like raw materials. I don't know that my five dollar a pound rabbit (rabbitS actually--I pulled out 4 shoulder blades from the stew) lived a great life, but I bet it was better than the average 99 cents a pound chicken's life.

"Tastes like chicken," I realized some time ago, is code for "really bland." I wish that I'd put more veggies and spices in, but I was nervous about screwing it up. This was my first attempt at anything with the crock pot, and now I'm not afraid of it anymore, so I'll feel more free to wing it. I think I'll do goat curry next.

Comments

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

When I had a hawk and ferrets and used to catch a shitton of wild rabbits, I would only use the back fillets and hind legs. Everything upwards of that was hawk and/or ferret food. They were better at dealing with annoying small bones than I was.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I considered eating the bones and coughing them up in a pellet later, but I thought that might be too uncomfortable.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

Also it's hard to make that work if you didn't swallow the fur.

[plantmom.livejournal.com]

Bwahahaha!

BTW, I have similar issues with whole chickens, as far as bones are concerned. It's a little bit of a pain in the ass to skin/debone a roasted chicken, but I'd still rather do it than buy deboned, skinned chicken breasts or thighs, as many of my customers do. For one thing, when it's cooked before deboning, the flavor is better. For another, once it's cooked, I have an easier time discerning meat from gristle, so I probably trim more accurately than I would if I cut it up before cooking.

[featheredfrog.livejournal.com]

I think you'll find that goat/chevre does NOT taste like chicken.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

If I do it right, it'll taste like curry. Honestly I haven't found that meat has much of a flavor at all. My favorite meats are heavily spiced and seasoned. (I have come around to appreciating beef--it does have a real flavor.)

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

Have you tried lamb? Lamb most definitely has a unique flavour.

I hear that eating sheep isn't that common in the U.S. It's one of the big meats in Australia, we're one of those countries that has more sheep than people.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you never see adult sheep meat for sale in the U.S., I'm not sure why.

Lamb is considered a "holiday" meat, eaten at Easter and such, and you can get it at the supermarket any time, and at Mediterranean restaurants. I don't think it tastes too distinctive, but it has a distinctive grainy texture to me.

[copperwolf.livejournal.com]

I think lamb has to be special ordered at my supermarket. It does have a distinctive flavor IMO, just as beef has its own flavor. I've never had adult mutton.

I had rabbit just once that I remember, at a Spanish restaurant. It was too dry for my taste, but I guess that has to do with how it was cooked?

[shellynoir.livejournal.com]

Do you think people are meant to gnaw on little bones all day? I'm thinking that's why so many people have osteoporosis and a tendency to put toothpicks and cigarettes in their mouths so much.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I think not eating little bones is something that came with civilization and food surpluses. Most other meat eating animals eat 'em right up. Good calcium, protein, and fat in them bones.

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

this is one of those meats that you need to cook with bacon :)

because bacon makes food taste like food :)

(also that pesky rabbit starvation thing, but not from one meal of it :>)

#

[djinnthespazz.livejournal.com]

Rabbit starvation occurs when you don't consume carbs with the meal. Your body needs either the fat of the animal or additional carbohydrates to fully process the meat. Most animals have more fat than rabbit does, and the folks who were starving on them were eating nothing but the meat...

[goremeister-666.livejournal.com]

i used to eat rabbit in chile all the time.
except we would just eat these big back legs that were very meaty.

the front part of the rabbit was there also but i would usually only eat the ribs (or the meat around it)

a typical way to prepare it that i think is deeelicious is called "conejo escabechado" basically, braised rabbit... and i think a slow cooker would be a marvelous way to prepare it. it had carrots, cilantro, onions, bay leaf and white wine

let me know how the goat turns out¡¡¡

[djinnthespazz.livejournal.com]

Mmm. Something like coc a vin with rabbit might be mighty tasty.

[jostajam.livejournal.com]

I get whole rabbit and braise it until the meat is cooked but the rabbit still hold together, then I take the meat off the bones and save the meat for later. The bones go back into the liquid and cook until they fall apart. The liquid gets strained and the bones discarded. I can then make stew or soup as requested. Elder and Younger Sons requested rabbit for Easter dinner :)

Even with the bone removal, someone still wins the bone lottery.

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

I first tried rabbit when I was 7 or so years old. The only reason I ate it was that I thought it WAS chicken. If I had been told it was rabbit before eating it, I wouldn't have touched it.

Seeing as I was told AFTER however, I thought to myself, "Hrm rabbit's not bad." I hardly ever eat it anyway, because it is NOT a cheap meat in Australia (although it is becoming more common in stores) and it's a bit of a pain to eat due to the bones. Cooking and eating chicken is a lot easier and tastes the same.

[zipotle.livejournal.com]

I ate rabbit in Germany, mostly because I was trying to find something Catcat wasn't allergic to. I only ate the loin. I cooked it like I do pork loin medallions; brown both sides with salt and pepper in butter or oil, and top with applesauce. Yom!
I'd like to try jostajam's way though. That stock sounds AWESOME.

[urb-banal.livejournal.com]

Braise it and then throw it in with chicken stock, slices of orange and honey. a bit later throw in chopped garlic and carrots, parsnips and celery. The liquid can be cooked right down to make a delicious glaze. yum. This combo is good for lamp shanks too.

[drhoz.livejournal.com]

just don't eat an exclusive diet of rabbit, or you'll die. Or so I heard on QI last night

[djinnthespazz.livejournal.com]

Rabbit curry sounds good.