We made rabbit. Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m not the most adventurous eater, I can’t think of a time where I would want to eat rabbit. In my mind, “rabbit” is a bunny, and it belongs in a preschool pet area not on a dinner plate.
This was the day where I decided to be the culinary student I was meant to be. There was a lot of anticipation that led up to the actual rabbit dish where I had to digest – for the lack of better words, that I would be defrosting, cutting, and cooking rabbit – the backyard grass nibbling cute animal.
Defrosting first – usually at school our meat comes fresh and is rarely defrosted so this was a change for me. These rabbits are farmed-raised meaning they are raised for culinary purposes, so I’m not sure who did the freezing, the school or the company but either way the defrosting is important to the story.
I opened up the fridge on Monday to find bunnies, each of them in their own little pouch – FROZEN in the bunny shape. Traumatized, all I could think of ARE THOSE EARS! — poor bunny…
Tuesday – the defrosting still was not complete – phew! I didn’t have to cook it, we made chicken mousse instead. Still weird but chicken breasts are a welcomed safety net.
Wednesday – the build up made me nauseous – can I call out sick? I told myself, to wo-man up and do this…after all learning new things should make you step out of your comfort zone every once in awhile. Didn’t I want to overcome this challenge?
So I drove to school singing along to the radio hoping that the rabbit was still frozen but also wanting to get it over with.
So there they were – out of the fridge, defrosted (the picture is a little unappetizing, sorry about that).
PHEW! Those were NOT ears…they were the front legs. Actually the rabbit itself looked nothing like a cuddly furry bunny. It was unrecognizable. God was on my side tonight!
The meat was very lean, making it easy to cut – all that hopping does a body good. So overall the experience was easy and a little boring, all that hype for thankfully for nothing.
I perfectly braised the rabbit legs and served it on the side of yummy polenta. I also made a delicious cake. – so overall huge success!
The rest of the rabbit was saved for another day – I think we are going to stuff it later this summer, stay tuned to Everyday Culinary for a photo.
