Does this look like a rabbit to you?
Our freezer died the other day and, due to pandemic shortages, we had to buy a smaller one and defrost a number of items for immediate consumption. The package pictured above was one of those items. It was purchased from a local grower at our farmer’s market and had a label that said THANK YOU rather than a description of contents, but I understood it was a rabbit which had been purchased for a special occasion which had now arrived. The item weighed a little under 4 pounds and cost $27.
I don’t think so….
The above picture was taken as the defrosted item came out of the refrigerator. While it was frozen there was a light layer of frost that prevented you from seeing anything inside, so the actual contents of the package did not become visible until now. And at left is the item after it was removed from the package.
Notice anything unexpected?
That’s right, it’s a chicken. A rather expensive chicken sold as a rabbit.
To assuage my disappointment, I did end up with some promising rabbit recipes we can try when we come up with an actual bunny. (We have lots of cottontails in our yard in springtime, stealing our shiso sprouts, but no shotgun so we will have to hope Elmer Fudd stops by.)
Here is a classic French rabbit recipe which resembles coq au vin. It’s from a bilingual website called Cuisine d’Aubéry which features quite a few recipes from renowned chefs, French and otherwise. (King Arthur baking instructor Cyril Hitz is there, with a nice fougasse.)
Here is a recipe in which the rabbit is marinated for 24 hours (but it’s not hassenpfeffer, see below) and served with stewed prunes. Looks pretty good and there are a lot of preparation photos. I expect you could make this or many other rabbit recipes with chicken as a substitution.
And here is a southern Germany (Swabian) rabbit recipe in which the hare is finished with sour cream, lemon and capers. It came from Mimi Sheraton’s Complete Guide to Mastering Authentic German Cooking. (That’s his affiliate link, not ours.) The author seems to hunt a lot of his own meat and advises that you should only make hassenpfeffer if you have a gamey wild rabbit; if you do his recipe is here.
And now, it’s off for some red wine to make Julia Child’s classic coq au vin. (That’s not a recipe link but a preparation discussion on one of our favorite food sites, The Kitchn.) We’ve cooked this many times and know it will be good. Bon appetit!
I used to purchase rabbit at Safeway supermarket. I prepared the rabbit just as I would have chicken, usually frying the meat. If I didn’t tell you it was rabbit you might think it was a chicken. I do not see rabbit for sale in major supermarkets but I imagine I could order one or visit an ethnic market. I cannot prepare rabbit anymore because my wife would divorce me. She loves bunnies more than she loves me. If I were perceived to be a rabbit eater she would object. I hope you find a real rabbit and use one of your recipes to see how it tastes. If you had a German Shepard dog named Ya Ya, she would bring you home as many rabbits as you desire.
We currently have two cats who could likely hunt down the bunnies in our garden, but they would not be inclined to share. It turns out the mystery animal from the freezer was a very tough old stewing hen or rooster with bones so sturdy I broke a knife trying to pound through the breast. Am following Julia’s coq au vin recipe faithfully except for the part where she says the bird will be tender after simmering for 30 minutes. Hah! 3 hours is more like it.