Smoked rabbit

[Waltz]

Hi,

I have had a rabbit in my freezer for a while and am considering smoking and cooking it in the Bradley as a trial.  Rabbit is a lean meat and any time I have cooked it in the past has been long and slow in a casserole with plenty of liquid but I figure long and slow in the smoker may be possible if I can keep it from drying out.  Has anyone any experience of smoking rabbit?  Would it be best to cold smoke for flavour then casserole or would it be OK done completely in the Bradley, perhaps with a bacon wrap to keep it from drying out too much?  Any advice or discussion welcome.

Waltz.

[FLBentRider]

KevinG smoked one last month:

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=13056.0

[MPTubbs]

Haven't done rabbit yet, but sounds like fun.

Now remember this is just my thoughts.....other will jump in.

If you wanted to start and finish in the smoker, smoke it for 1 to 2 hours first.

Then place in a foil roasting pan with about an inch liquid (beer, apple juice, water, ect.) and cover with foil and cook until IT hits around 160*.

Serve with Q sauce on the side.  Rabbit taste like chicken in my oppion.

[Waltz]

Hello again,

I am taking some of a lead from the KevinG method, thanks for the link.  It is currently sitting in the fridge in a bath of brine, lemon juice, juniper and allspice berries.
I will see how it looks tomorrow but am thinking of smoking it for perhaps two or two and a half hours then slathering it with butter, paprika and chillie powder and continuing cooking in the Bradley until its done.  Not sure how long that will be.  I have some bacon I can wrap it with if it looks like getting too dry. I will let you know how it turns out.

Waltz.

[Pachanga]

You can't go wrong with a slow brine bath on a lean rabbit.  After that, pick your favorite method.

In fact, I'm making a seafood gumbo tonight.  Rabbit gumbo is some good eats.

Good luck, slow smoking and not so wascally wabbits,

Pachanga

[KevinG]

Make sure to check on it, I did notice it starting to look tough, but let it go. The outside was embarrassing, but what was inside was good.

[Waltz]

Did the deed today.

This is the beast just out of the brine.


Hung for a little while to dry off:


Then hung it inside the smoker:


Smoked for two hours at about 170 degrees with Hickory.

Part way through the Smoke:


It was still fairly moist when the smoking was finished so I didn't see the need to wrap it in bacon but smeared a little butter on it and dusted it with paprika, chillie powder and black pepper and set it in some foil with some carrots, celery and parsnip to help keep it moist.



Then cranked the Bradley up to 300 with no smoke and returned the rabbit into it.
I wasn't sure how long it would take but kept checking for moisture and doneness (if thats a real word but you know what I mean) after about an hour or just over it seemed to be getting dry so I added some tomato juice to the foil parcel and resealed it.

After about 3hours it looked to be done and still had some moisture left in the foil:



I never actually saw the Bradley anywhere above 250 so perhaps I need the additional element mod. but it did the job and the rabbit was tender, definitely cooked through and pull-apart done.  It tastes pretty good too.  As KevinG found, the outer layer got a bit tough but the meat underneath was tender and the spices and flavours, including the smoke had penetrated well through the meat.

I can't say it is the only way I will ever cook rabbit in future but it is another way of doing it.  Next time I think I would give it the two hours, or perhaps more in the smoker to get some flavour then casserolle or crock-pot it with more herbs and veggies to give a wider spectrum of flavours.

I hope that this rambling pic heavy message is of interest to some, I'm off to eat some more rabbit.

Waltz.

[MPTubbs]

Looks damn good to me Waltz.

That's one big bunny. You sure it's a rabbit?  O.K. where's my dog....

Nice job! ;)

[squirtthecat]

I hope you warned the Mrs before she walked out to get in the car!!   :o :o

[Waltz]

Yeh, the size of it did surprise me a bit but the picture of it hanging to dry makes it look bigger than the Bradley.  It does pretty much take up the height of the 6-rack though.
The misses is ill today so didn't get as far as the car to wonder what I had done to the dog ;D

[RAF128]

 .
The misses is ill today so didn't get as far as the car to wonder what I had done to the dog ;D

;D ;D :o.  That's funny