Deboning a rabbit

I came across these 2 videos too late this breeding season as we are keeping what we have to breed when it cools down in late summer.

I am looking forward to trying this technique. I know it will take a lot of time to get proficient at it and I'll probably never get it down to 5 min, but it would open up a lot of recipes for cooking the rabbits.

Interesting! I suppose it opens more possibilities than variations on rabbit stew. Ground rabbit for burgers or chilis for example?

This deboning method is an absolute gamechanger!

It was quite a learning curve but I have the times down now. Not near as fast as the video but not bad and it is worth the extra time. It took about a dozen rabbits to really understand the video and all that is happening in the 5 minutes.

I processed some today and weighed them through the process to see how it works out. I weighed 2 grow outs:

5.5# each live weight
3# dressed (no head, guts, fur)
2.25# boneless

Mileage varies on how the ratios play out due to how you select your breeders. I prefer a stiff boning knife. I have a few that are semi-flexible but used the most rigid one and it did the best. The bones and little bit of remaining meat go to make broth.

If you've been underwhelmed with cooking options for whole or parted out meat rabbits, this is the solution.

Also, deboning the entire carcass at once yields more meat than deboning pieces. Pretty amazing.

We have reached the end of the meat rabbit season here due to the heat. I have 8 grow outs left to process and we'll "over summer" the breeders until it cools down.

The whole deboned rabbit worked great for recipes like the 2nd video in the original post. Our issue is that we do not currently raise pigs and don't have a good source for non cafo bacon.

After I process the remaining grow outs, we will have processed 56 grow outs this season. Once we ran out of bacon, I started processing the rabbits differently. The front quarters are the most difficult due to scraping the shoulder blades and ending up with some tough bits left from the shoulder blade that take some time to remove after deboning.

I got pretty fast at deboning everything under the front quarters. I don't take the time to keep the front quarters all in one piece with the rest of the deboned rabbit and instead remove then and debone them separately without as much care as the video and include what is left of them for bone broth.

Due to the lack of good bacon for wrapping the boneless rabbit, I have been grinding all of the boneless meat. It is very versatile and I believe it is worth the extra investment of time to debone.

My wife has been making Meatzza crust with the ground rabbit and it is excellent. We've used it in may other recipes and feel this is the way to go for meat rabbits as we had trouble finding recipes everyone liked when we tried cooking it whole or portioned with bones in.

Jackson Bradley wrote:... we had trouble finding recipes everyone liked when we tried cooking it whole or portioned with bones in...

Muscovy Duck is also very short on fat. If you want to try a couple of "bone in" recipes, here are two that have gone over well with my lot, and that I think would work OK with Rabbit instead of Muscovy.

Maui Muscovy Duck
Ingredients
~500 g duck pieces
½ cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp honey
1 garlic clove (minced)
1 Tbsp ginger (minced)
1 tsp sesame oil
½ cup pineapple juice
½ cup broth
2 Tbsp tapioca starch
Directions
1. Combine soy, honey, garlic, ginger and sesame oil in a mixing bowl and stir until the sugar is mostly dissolved and then stir in the pineapple juice and beef broth.
2. Place the duck neatly in one layer if possible on the bottom of the slow cooker or appropriate sized pot.
3. Pour the liquid over top and set the slow cooker on high for 4 hours or if using a pot, bring to a boil and immediately cover with a tight fitting lid and reduce heat to lowest possible setting and cook for 4 hours.
4. Check to make sure that the liquid is completely covering the ribs throughout the cooking process. Add a little more beef broth if necessary.
5. Once cooked, gently remove the meat from the slow cooker or pot and then bring the liquid to a boil over medium high heat in a small pot.
6. Combine the cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of water and stir until dissolved. While stirring the boiling liquid with a whisk or wooden spoon, slowly pour the dissolved cornstarch into the liquid until desired consistency is achieved. Do not add too much at once as cornstarch takes a minute to take effect.
7. Serve with some cooked whole grains such as brown rice, quinoa or even lentils and some fresh or canned pineapple.

Corned Beef/Duck

A quick heads-up: This recipe requires multiple days. But don’t let the time scare you. The steps are simple and the flavor payoff is second to none. It’ll take about 5 days to brine the meat for smaller pieces, so if it’s for a big event, schedule it into your calendar early.

What You’ll Need:
Ingredients - in { is what I used due to what I had available}
• 1 gallon water (3.75 liters)   {Crock: 2 liters}
• 1-1/2 cups kosher salt   {Crock: ¾ cup}
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar  {Crock: ¼ cup}
• 1/4 cup mixed pickling spices, divided   {Crock: 1 Tbsp}
• 4 teaspoons pink curing salt    {Crock: 2 tsp}
• 4 garlic cloves, minced     {Crock: 2 garlic cloves}
• 1 fresh beef brisket (4 to 5 pounds)  {Crock: used M.  duck leg/thighs until crock was full including most of the brine (~2 cups left)}

Steps
In a large stockpot, combine water, kosher salt, brown sugar, 2 tablespoons pickling spices, pink curing salt and garlic. Bring the brine to a simmer and stir until salt and sugar are dissolved. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until chilled.

Both these recipes freeze well. Because of the long cooking times, the meat comes off the bone very easily which might make it easier for kids to manage.

Jay Angler wrote:

Jackson Bradley wrote:... we had trouble finding recipes everyone liked when we tried cooking it whole or portioned with bones in...

Muscovy Duck is also very short on fat. If you want to try a couple of "bone in" recipes, here are two that have gone over well with my lot, and that I think would work OK with Rabbit instead of Muscovy.

Jay, our problem mainly centered around the different slow cook methods. We ended up with a lot of tiny hard pieces that were impossible to remove when shredding/eating the rabbit meat. I suspect they were some of the pieces that remained when I was going through the deboning process and had to remove. It soured the experience for the kids when they bit down on what the thought was going to be a soft piece of meat and were picking out small pieces of cartilage or whatever it was out of their mouth.

If we didn't have other options, we'd get used to it and be fine but I guess we are a little spoiled. It was not the low fat content.

Jackson Bradley wrote:...It soured the experience for the kids when they bit down on what the thought was going to be a soft piece of meat and were picking out small pieces of cartilage or whatever it was out of their mouth...

I hear you - hubby complained similarly when he'd get a tiny piece of crab shell when I'd catch local crab. It was frustrating for me, as it was great having an afternoon by the water and getting food out of it! Now, once in a while, I go crabbing with a friend and eat crab at her house and leave Hubby to fend for himself.

Jay Angler wrote:I hear you - hubby complained similarly when he'd get a tiny piece of crab shell when I'd catch local crab. It was frustrating for me, as it was great having an afternoon by the water and getting food out of it! Now, once in a while, I go crabbing with a friend and eat crab at her house and leave Hubby to fend for himself.

We have made a lot of memories as a family catching crabs in traps and cooking them. Sometimes handlining with a chicken drumstick. I have big smile on my face reminiscing due to your mention of it. The crabs and meat rabbits are a nice variety but it sure seems a lot more productive to process a deer instead of the multitude of small animals it takes to get that amount of meat! It does not stop us from doing it though.