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Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Butchering Rabbits


We used to raise rabbits for meat here on the ranch.  Once we overcame our initial start-up difficulties and converted to a "colony-style" system of raising them we ended up being so successful with them that we soon got overwhelmed.  The expression "breeding like rabbits" is more than just a cute saying.  We were butchering out 20-30 rabbits a month from just 4 breeding does and one buck.  It was crazy.  How much rabbit can 2 people eat? A lot, it turns out (especially once you run out of freezer space!).
Doomed by success, we soon got weary of the whole thing and sold off the breeding stock, getting out of rabbits all together.  That was almost 10 years ago.
It took a few years but we eventually came to miss fresh rabbit meat.  Not long ago we made friends with a very nice couple who live a few miles from us who raised rabbits to sell so, from time to time, we again had the opportunity to eat rabbit.  A few weeks ago they told us they too were getting out of the rabbit business and asked if we wanted a few of their older breeding does to butcher.  We worked out a trade: four rabbits for a couple of goat wethers and a duck drake.
The does were beautifully healthy, well-kept and quite large.  We put them in an enclosed area of the chicken coop we usually use for chick brooding for a few days until we could make time for a butchering day.  Butchering rabbits is a little different than poultry and quite different than butchering larger animals so here's a brief, fairly complete (ie graphic) photo essay on the subject.  Kathryn and I work as a team on this.  We are very efficient and and it goes very fast.
Fetch the Rabbit
 
Stun/Kill the rabbit with a quick, decisive blow to the back of the head
 
Remove head and allow the rabbit to bleed out fully

Skinning #1

Skinning #2
 
Skinning #3

Skinning #4

Gutting (do not puncture the innards!)

The Good Stuff (heart, kidneys, liver (bile duct still needs to be removed)

Cut up into sections: 2 leg/thighs, 2 front "quarters", 1 loin per rabbit

Pan o' rabbit parts, ready for frying/stewing etc.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Fresh Tomato-Herb Soup


One morning's harvest

It's only mid June and we are, already, experiencing an over-abundance of tomatoes... and these babies aren't even from the garden but from the few plants still going in the greenhouse!
Despite some recent strong opinions to the contrary on one culinary chat site (here: Acceptable uses of home grown tomatoes) I'd rather use my tomatoes by any means while they are fresh and at their peak rather than hang on to them in hopes that I will somehow be able to eat all of them, simply sprinkled with a little sea salt, before they go bad.  A fresh tomato-herb soup is as a good a utilizer as I know.
I usually start by cooking a bunch of tomatoes in a little butter until the juices have reduced by about 1/2.  As a variation I will sometimes first roast the tomatoes until the skins are black  for a deeper color and different flavor to the end product. Once well-reduced, I puree the tomatoes in a food processor and strain out the seeds and skin, pressing well on the pulp to extract every drop possible. 
This goes into a sauce pan and is thinned with milk (goat's milk in this case) to get the flavor concentration I am looking for.  I bring this to a boil and thicken slightly with a blond roux, adjust the seasonings (mostly salt and lots of ground pepper), and add some chopped fresh herbs.  Basil is an obvious choice but chives, thyme  and/or summer savory are all fine additions.
We like our Fresh Tomato-Herb soup served with a few toasted bread croutons tossed in for a contrasting/complementing texture.