# Smoked Rabbit



## iamdrglass (Mar 19, 2008)

I read in another thread that someone smoked their rabbit. If you have done this can you post a recipe. I have 22 fryers that I want to experiment with and would like a starting point for my cure/brine/wood.

Thanks 
Dan


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## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

Well do you mean cold smoked or hot smoked? we hot smoke potbelly pigs, but have never done rabbit. That's a great idea! We gut them, and sear off the hair with a torch so we don't have to skin. Keeps the meat on when it gets to falling apart finished, and it is by far the best pork I have ever had.


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## missfire (Jun 7, 2011)

iamdrglass said:


> I read in another thread that someone smoked their rabbit. If you have done this can you post a recipe. I have 22 fryers that I want to experiment with and would like a starting point for my cure/brine/wood.
> 
> Thanks
> Dan


I use the K.I.S.S. principle, Salt-Pepper, Baste with Garlic Butter, Hickory chips over coals, good to go. Be careful not to over cook, real fine line between done and leather.:thumb:


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## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

I have done it with them plain, but prefer to split them flat and soak in marinade first. (you can soak them before splitting them, takes up less room that way).

I add the marinade to the vacumn bag and reseal it. Usually overnight, then I'll take the marinade and thicken it up to use for basting, but that isn't needed.

Here is one I did with some ribs- with my home canned apple relish as the base for the marinade. I've also used my home canned plum sauce, or I'll mix up something, and my recipes are very vague - usually some vinegar, maybe oil, usually a sweetener of some sort (I like molasses but sometimes use brown sugar) the home canned sauces already have some sweetener in them. I go light on the sugar, but like the carmized look you get with it. 

As to spices, I have a wide selection of Penzy's seasonings. I have some mixed specifically for poultry and pork, I've found they work good for rabbit. I do not really like it with the type you'd typically use on beef, but that's just me.

I also don't like heavy smoke, so I use mostly apple wood. Hickory will give you the strongest smoke taste.

So far I've not come close to the "leather" side of the line in the smoker, though it's easy to do on the grill. I keep my smoker around 225, make sure it's hot and smokey before adding the meat. I put the rabbit on the top grill too. I'm pretty sure it takes at least an hour to cook, but I'm not sure on that one. 

This is from last time - ribs and rabbit marinated and ready to go on grill.









And afterwards. The rabbit may have been cooked a bit long as it was falling off the bone to the point that it was hard to pick up - for sure not "leather" though. 










Here's one on the regular grill - this way you can easily turn them into leather if you cook them too long.









Here is my smoker. I set it up in the greenhouse as it's usually too windy to use it outside.









Did a load of legs a different time- they were done plain and they were very good too!


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## byexample (Aug 28, 2009)

It's pretty simple. The thing you have to watch out for is that you don't want to over-cook the meat in the smoker. Thin pieces tend to get rubbery and the thicker pieces can actually get kinda mushy if left in the smoker too long... kinda like over-cooked fish. I tend to like smoking the back legs at 200-225F for about an hour and then finish cooking on the grill or in the oven. Rabbit meat is delicate and doesn't need a heavy smoking to get a good flavor.

I've tried a variety of woods with rabbit and my 2 favorite woods for smoking rabbit are apple and pear -- with pear providing a slightly more mellow flavor than the apple.

We've also smoked the thin pieces of meat from the belly. I smoke those at the lowest temp possible for a fairly short time (30 - 60 minutes). They can then be crisped in a pan and make a decent "rabbit bacon" when cooked properly.


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## iamdrglass (Mar 19, 2008)

Thank you for the replies. 

I am wanting to try to make some faux ham for bean and ham soup. I will try mortons sugar cure/ brine to start with unless anyone has a suggestion that may work. 

I like the flap idea for the bacon.

I have all fryers butchered now so I will try to smoke some this weekend if my weather permits.

Dan


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