Breaking Down a Whole Rabbit - No, it’s not difficult!
Like most people, I typically purchase meat that has already been broken down, and ready to cook. However, one day while perusing Wholey’s in the Strip, I happened upon a whole rabbit and thought to myself “this might be something fun to try,” so here we are! I will tell you - I did watch some Youtube videos to do a little research just to make sure I didn’t butcher (pun intended) the whole dinner. Basically, the general consensus is to just follow the guidance you get from the animal! What I mean when I say that is to pretty much just work around where the joints naturally are, maneuver around bones, and follow the natural curvature of the animal. After that, it becomes pretty easy work! Check out the video below for my demo on how to break down a rabbit.
Once my rabbit was broken down and ready to cook, I prepped my enameled cast iron pot to confit the meat. If you are unfamiliar, to confit is to basically slow poach in some type of fat. The confit method actually dates back many, many years to times when there was no vacuum sealing or refrigeration available. Folks would confit meats in duck fat or pork fat for hours or even days, and it would allow them to store meat in a cool cellar for months during winter. While I am sure some people still use this method for preserving, nowadays confit is more just a method of cooking to make tender, juicy meals!
For this dish, prepping my rabbit was the most involved part, once broken down - you can basically pop everything in the oven and forget about it for a few hours.
In my cooking dish, I added in all of the following:
Pieces of rabbit - pat dry, salted and peppered
A whole clove of garlic
Sprig of Rosemary and Thyme
Two Star Anise
Sliced Lemon
Once all of my ingredients were in the pot, I poured in the oil - I used olive oil but you could also go for actual duck fat, canola oil, pork fat, etc. I put the pot, covered, into a 240 degree oven for about 3 hours. You want to check on it occasionally to make sure the oil never hits a point where it’s rapidly boiling, if so - turn the temperature down slightly.
When the rabbit was finished cooking in the oil, I broiled it at 400 for about 5 minutes to just get the outside of the rabbit a little crisp before serving. And that was it! The rabbit came out fall off the bone, tender and juicy. I whipped up a quick sauce to top the dish with - minced garlic and shallot sautéed in the leftover confit oil, diced heirloom tomato and dry white wine, until it reduced and became thick and glossy. Yum!!
I served this dish with Sage and Brown Butter Roasted Acorn Squash and Lemon Risotto. This tasted SO luxurious but besides some prep work, it was not too difficult to execute. Give this a try and sub in any of your favorite proteins, let me know how it turns out!