Rabbit

Jamaica Observer Eating Well: Rabbit

Ever since Peter Rabbit and Bugs Bunny, rabbit as meat for the table has been in decline. The rabbit as loveable(?) cartoon character seems to have made us all squeamish about eating rabbit! Which is not altogether understandable. We are happily eating chicken notwithstanding our own Percy, and Big Bird on Sesame Street.

Rabbit meat, low in cholesterol and versatile, is a most neglected source of protein. Farmed rabbits (as compared with wild rabbits) are fairly light in colour, almost like chicken, and the flavour not much different. Rabbit meat is economical, especially if you farm the rabbits yourself. Consider though that most backyard rabbit farmers are loathe to eat their produce – the sight of the cute, furry bunnies as meat on the table apparently can be difficult to take. It may not after all be possible to eat everything that you grow! But there are others of us who will eat it.

Supermarket packs of jointed rabbit meat used to be available here some twenty or so years ago when there was a rabbit revival in Jamaica. Nowadays, perhaps only the 4-H Clubs (if they still exist!) and the Animal Husbandry class at the Technical & Vocational Schools are likely to be involved with rabbit farming. Rabbit is good meat and more of us should take and interest.

In Britain rabbit used to be very popular. They used to make rabbit stews and pies; rabbits were also potted and roasted depending on their age. But in recent times, myxomatosis, a viral disease in rabbits, has put some Britons off their rabbit. I France they braise rabbit with garlic and wine; in Italy they roast it with sage, or with mustard or with wine; in Spain, they cook it with saffron rice, or they enrich it with chocolate, of all things.

The creative cook with an eye on economy as well as gastronomy could really get cooking with rabbit: rabbit casserole with minced black olives… braised rabbit with red wine and chestnuts or with beer and prunes. The Spanish influence in many of the Caribbean’s rabbit dishes is obvious in the addition of garlic, olive oil, sherry and pimento-stuffed olives. In the Leeward Islands, rabbit is sometimes curried the way we do goat in Jamaica. The following recipe is also from the Leeward Islands.

If you can find a rabbit, try Rabbit & Peanut Stew. Start with some salt pork, about 2 ounces, cut into pieces. Render it and use it to sauté 2 ½ lbs rabbit meat, cut into bit size pieces, until brown. Add chopped onion and minced garlic and sauté lightly. Add some stock (chicken stock will do) or water and herbs: bay leaf, marjoram and thyme, and salt and pepper to taste. Cover and simmer until the rabbit is tender. Cooking time will almost certainly depend on the age of the rabbit. In the meantime make a sauce with 3 or 4 ounces of peanuts, 2 hot peppers (seeds and membranes removed) and about ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg. Combine the three ingredients in a blender until smooth, (no blender? Use peanut butter and hot pepper sauce and add the nutmeg), and add enough water or stock. Simmer gently for 15 minutes and taste for seasoning. Add the rabbit pieces and simmer until heated through. Serve with plain rice and a colourful salad.

If you have not been lucky to find a rabbit, try this recipe using goat or chicken… but keep looking for the rabbit!

© Elizabeth North   01/05/1995