To feed the kids rabbit...

[ReallyTired]

Cost of food is soring so as an experiment I have bought a rabbit. The meat is cheaper than other meats and I think the welfare standards are higher. The animal has been shot in the hertfordshire countryside so has had a better life than many farm animals.

Dh thinks I am wierd to eat rabbit. He thinks its like eating a pet rabbit. My children are completely carnivorous and seem fairly happy to eat rabbit.

The only dilema is what the best way is to cook rabbit.

[maninawomansworld]

Rabbit is lovely, we have it all the time.
Do cook it slow and low for 3 or 4 hours though, it really makes it melt in the mouth and the meat just flakes off the bones.

[SizzleSazz]

Dh shoots rabbits so we have it quite often - curried, or in a casserole with cider and confit legs.

Older ones can be tough I agree, but if you have a young rabbit and soak it overnight, it's lovely

[pigletmania]

In Malta rabbit s a staple

[Wolfcub]

Braised with onions. Delicious

[Montybojangles]

www.jamieoliver.com/magazine/recipes-view.php?title=12-hour-rabbit-bolognese
Yummy

[VBisme]

Goblin Granny is absolutely right

[GoblinGranny]

Snigger all you like Eleanor. I'm not objecting to anyone eating rabbit, but my father can't any more as it now makes him violently ill.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_starvation

[EleanorFarjeon]

'Protein overloads your system'

[cathers]

I love rabbit and as a family we eat it a fair bit in season. Local butcher charges £2.99 a rabbit but we are in the country.

I either portion it and wrap in pancetta, or sometimes breadcrumb the joints. Or if going out, slow cook it with tomatoes, olives, rosemary, baby turnips and shallot to make a lovely Italian ish stew.

Oh, and we have pet rabbits. Doesn't seem to affect dcs. I would rather they ate wild rabbit than battery / intensively farmed meats.

[GoblinGranny]

Rabbit is good and very lean, but do make sure you add carbohydrates or fats to the meal. It won't cause a problem in the short term at all, but my father got ill as a teenager because he lived on a diet of rabbit for months, that and fish.
The protein overloads your system unless you balance it out.

[HesterShaw]

Why would that be unreasonable?

[HenryIV]

Ah, what a difference an apostrophe can make. Thought you were going to starve a family pet but now I see that you are grammatically and gastronomically correct.

[AwkwardSquad]

I ate wild rabbit when I was a kid. None of the children (five or six or more of us, several families) had a problem with it. Though the shot was a tad crunchy.

[Iteotwawki]

Rabbit is delicious - casserole it with red wine and bacon :) shot rabbit is completely different to pet rabbit. We have chickens for eggs but when they stop laying they'll be slow cooked.

[VBisme]

The rabbit in our local butchers isn't what I 'd call cheap - £8 each, and you need at least 2 for a family of 4.

Perhaps I'm going to the wrong butchers.

[Branleuse]

ive never had it. I might buy one next time im at the butchers. and a duck as I think ducks are morally corrupt

[Glittertwins]

I don't mind it although the bones are a nightmare. The DTs love it though as does DH who cooks it similar to beef bourguignon.

[ElizaDoLots]

We ate rabbit growing up. Not sure I could now the children have a bunny in the garage [sad git]

[pictish]

I really like rabbit! Yanbu!

[GobbySadcase]

I'm not too keen, bit stringy and don't like the taste.

[borisjohnsonshair]

sorry posted inwrong thread too much wine

[borisjohnsonshair]

to think that status quo song would have made a great eurovision entry?

[TheSmallClanger]

Don't push it on your DH if he thinks it is weird. DH and I are making excuses not to see a couple we know now because they are obsessed with reducing food waste and spend far too much time trying to serve us game (which neither of us eats) and shitty leftovers at their house. Neither DH or I are big carnivores (DH pretty much pescatarian) and the endless digs about "all meat being meat" are wearing extremely thin now.

[PacificDogwood]

I think children are quite capable of keeping the idea of 'pet' and 'food' apart.
I had a rather suburban upbringing, but close family with farms and have seen pigs killed and slaughtered. Even at the time, it did not bother me. I understand what you mean, caz; not sure how I'd cope with a name though...
We had bunnies as pets, my brother and I, but they were (in my head) 'different' than the rabbit we had for Sunday lunch IYKWIM. My DH thinks I am deranged - he is still grieving for his pet bunny who died 23.3.1983. RIP.

I don't like game/venison etc, but enjoy rabbit .

[cazboldy]

i'm not overly keen on the taste of rabbit.

I can see what people mean about naming animals, but that doesn't make them pets.....

We are rearing a bullock for the freezer. As soon as we saw he was a boy we knew that was what would happen. The kids understand.

He is called Barney.

I see no reason why he should not enjoy a good quality of life in the mean time, and if that means being led out to grass, or having a brush/scratch behind the ear, then so what?

The alternative was to have him shot the day after he was born..... you can't give Jersey bull calves away......