This all started in 2010 when I went into Whole Foods looking for Cornish Hens and they were sold out. As I started looking for a replacement, I found a pheasant. In 2011, I made our first Christmas goose. I decided that 2012 would be the year of the rabbit.
Whole rabbits can be tricky to find, but through some research I discovered that Balducci's market in McLean carries them. Thankfully, they had three in stock when I stopped by the weekend before Christmas.
Rabbit tends to be very lean and can be difficult to roast whole so most recipes will call for the rabbit to be cut into pieces for more even cooking which really limited my choices since I was hoping to cook it whole. I eventually found this interesting recipe from La Cucina Italiana for coniglio arrotolato, which is a stuffed roasted rabbit. This recipe used rabbit liver, prosciutto and marjoram.
I have been curious about butchery for a while after seeing French recipes that involve deboning ducks. I thought that this was a great chance to try my hand at this new technique. Of course, like anyone nowadays, I turned to YouTube for a little instruction. I definitely did not debone my rabbit in 5 minutes, but this video was really helpful in giving me an idea what to do next.
From my first experience deboning an animal, I learned a few key things. Obviously, the right knife is critical. I would use a different and sharper knife next time. I also wasn't careful enough when trying to remove the spine and completely cut through the piece of meat. Finally, like anything practice makes perfect.
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The Rabbit After I Removed the Bones |
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The Rabbit After I Spread the Ground Organ Meat and Covered it with Prosciutto |
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The Rolled Rabbit Roasting on a Fennel and Onion Bed |
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The Sliced Rabbit Ready to Serve |
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Rabbit, Mushroom Risotto and Carrots |
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