The only thing better than having a good friend with a smoker, is have TWO good friends with a smoker. Last week, my buddy SB and I were talking, and I mentioned that I had a bunch of rabbits to harvest. He offered to smoke some for me, assuming he would get some of it for his efforts.
How could I refuse?
I had 6 rabbits ready for harvest, at what is considered “fryer” stage. This means they are still young enough to still be quite tender. Once they start to slow in growth, around 3 months of age, they become “roasters”, or an older, tougher rabbit that requires a slower cooking process to account for the tougher meat.
Now I’m not really sure who came up with these terms. A fryer is definitely a more tender rabbit, with meat you can cut with a fork. But to call a 4 month old cage-raised rabbit a roaster because it is going to be tough seem rather ridiculous to me.
From my experience, laying around and doing nothing but eating and getting larger doesn’t build muscle tone, it builds fat. Ask any couch potato! And having eaten older rabbits, I simply cannot accept an older domestic rabbit as tough. Yes, it has more developed muscle tone, but tough? No way.
Now a large wild rabbit that has spent its life running from EVERYTHING to stay alive (being at the bottom of the food chain has to suck in this regard) is a tough rabbit, both in his survival instincts as well as cooking him up. But not a domestic rabbit.
It is probably more a comparison between the domestic rabbit ages, not a generality. My “fryers” should be called marshmallow rabbits, that is about the muscle tone they have. And while the older rabbits have developed more muscle tone, I can’t call them “tough”, and do just fine fried.
And if you really think it will be a problem, there is always a crock pot (I suppose that IS roasting) , rabbit jerky, or my favorite, rabbit sausage.
The big issue is the leanness of the meat of domestic rabbits. We are aren’t talking “rabbit starvation lean“, but rabbits in general are simply lean animals. This tends to cause them to dry out if not cooked properly. Moist cooking methods work very well for rabbit, but so do dry cooking methods, with proper preparations.
Smoking is definitely a dry method, even when done with a steam pan. But by brining the rabbits for 24 hours before smoking them, you get a wonderful, moist product that is a fantastic treat. I am grateful to SB for revealing that to me.
So he smoked some rabbits for me yesterday. And the fool only took two of the rabbits in exchange for his efforts instead of the customary half. HA! I guess that just means I owe him a little more in the favor column….Thanks again, buddy!
The Process
Dissolve 1 tablespoon of non iodized salt for each quart of water. Make enough brine to completely cover the rabbits.
Brine the rabbit for 24 hours.
Spread the carcasses flat, this usually requires the ribs to be broken. They cook more evenly this way.
Smoke for 3 – 4 hours at around 225-230 degrees F. This is going to be the gray area, based on your particular smoker setup, this time may need to be increased or decreased.
Enjoy!
Again I want to thank SB for offering to smoke some rabbits, and thank his wonderful family for putting up with me while we waited.
Peace,
db
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