Rabbit questions (as food)

[2steps]

I bought a rabbit in the market for stew. It still has it's kidneys and other bits inside. Is it ok to eat these or not? I was thinking I can put them into the stew or they could be used with the bones to make stock

[wulf]

It's probably worth cleaning it out. You might want to keep some of the offal for the stew but I doubt you'd want things like the stomach and intestine (or has it been partially cleaned?).

Wulf

[2steps]

yes it was partly clean. just the kidney, and I think liver was left

[Millymollymandy]

I'm trying to remember, but back in the good old days when we used to get giblets with chickens, I think it was the liver that was not supposed to be cooked with the rest of the 'bits'. I think it was because of the strong flavour, but that's not to say it couldn't be cooked separately.

But bunny, oh how could you! (sorry)

[ina]

Good morning, MMM

I get the impression you don't have a rabbit problem where you live? Although I don't actively hunt them, I'm rather glad about every one that get caught by the cat... Although I do find them cute, of course I do, and when Frankie gets them and they are still alive and well, I release them, as I can't stand her playing with her prey...

Ina

[Millymollymandy]

Morning Ina

Not many bunnies in France, only hares. The hunters say there aren't any bunnies due to Myxamatosis....... or could it be that they shot them all?

I think of bunnies as cute little furry pets, and I'd love to have one, and hamsters, gold fish and budgies - but - I've got cats!

[ina]

Hares are quite rare up here. We do get myxomatosis, too - but it only seems to kill a few of them, never makes much of an impact on the total population. Maybe they've become immune by now. Frankie once met a rabbit on the lawn that was suffering from myxomatosis, and she didn't kill it - although it would have been easy as anything. She just tapped it with the paw, and as bunny didn't run away, she probably thought - that's not playing the game! - and let it be. Crows usually get them in the end.

A lot of people have more or less given up on growing veg, because it is so difficult to get the garden rabbit proof! Having a cat helps, I rarely see a rabbit in the garden now, even outside of my rabbit proof enclosure where I grow the veg.

Ina

[Millymollymandy]

I do understand the problem and I probably wouldn't think of them as cute little fluffy things if they were in my veg patch! Mind you, I still think of moles as cute and they decimate my lawn.

I've seen tons of rabbits in England but only ever seen one in France (near my current house!).

I even saw one in Wisley gardens!

[Sue 47]

We lived in the Isle of Man for a few years before we came to France and we were overrun with rabbits. We had a fairly rabbit proof veg patch but the rest of the garden where we tried to grow nice flowers was constantly decimated. My husband turned quite murderous - even aquired a shot gun -not like him atall - but he was like a man possessed. I have seen very few rabbits in France and none round our house atall. I've been told they are not classed as vermin here but as food so we wouldn't be able to shoot them anyway without a hunting license - Nearly everyone hunts round here - but for big stuff like wild boar and deer . It's a like the Alamo some days and we don't walk in the forest much between October and March ! Tony has reverted to his old anti hunting ways and has got rid of his gun .
We do have moles tho -never had them to deal with in the Isle of Man as there aren't any - and they are a nuisance . They burrow all over the place and the minute we dig over something they are in there . Plants keel over as their roots are just in tunnels. What was supposed to be a lawn ( ha ha ) is now full of craters from the dogs digging the mole hills - looks a right mess ! A friend stayed last year and said that moles don't like light in their tunnels so he went round putting beer bottles in the mole hills to keep the holes open. The moles just pushed the bottles out and the garden looked like we'd had rather a wild party with beer bottles everywhere ! That isn't the answer but I don't know what is. They do a very nifty mole explosive device in France consisting of a bit of semtex and a charge which you set in the tunnel- blows the mole to oblivion when they touch it but I don't really want bombs lying around the garden with dogs and geese running about and anyway I'd be a bit worried about setting them for safety of my own fingers ! I cannot see in a million years they'd sell such a device in supermarkets in the UK !
Right back to the grape squashing !
Sue x

[2steps]

I didn't kill the rabbit, bought it dead and frozen. Don't think I could kill them

I have pet rabbits, does that make me odd for eating them? I've only eaten it a few times and bought it this time as they were dead cheap and we're so poor

[Millymollymandy]

Nothing wrong with it 2steps - after all I still eat chicken! I did wonder if I would feel a bit strange about it after I got my hens - but as they are all plucked and oven ready they don't ressemble my girls any more.

It's just me having a thing about cute fluffy little bunnies - and Bambi too Anyway my Mum gave us rabbit when we were kids and said it was chicken, but my brother and I knew it wasn't, and we didn't like whatever it was one bit anyway, so Mum gave up after that.

[2steps]

I was wondering that about when I have chickens too. I don't think I would be able to kill and eat one of my own chickens though, their my pets and friends

I've never seen a wild rabbit here but where we used to live wasnear heathrow airport and they had a big problem and use to shoot them because it would be dangerous if they started burrowing under the runways

[Wombat]

2-steps, If you can't kill and eat a chook, what chance do you have with something as small, furry and cute as a bunny

Nev

[2steps]

excatly

though the rabbits were bought as pets

with the chickens I sort of thought maybe we could eat them but I just know I'll end up getting attatched to them, they'll become pets and then I won't be able too we know someone who owns a beef farm and aske dhim how can he spend all that time with the cows, watch them grow from babies.... and then send them off to be killed and eaten? but they look at them as I would a bead, they are just things, their work, their money. I can understand but I couldn't be like that, I'm just to soft when it comes to furry faces

[Muddypause]

This thread reminds me of a sign I used to drive past regularly when I lived in Norfolk, advertising "Oven-ready tame rabbits for sale".

Presumably you just open the oven door, and the rabbit jumps in.