Fantastic Food Friday: Beer-Braised Rabbit

err…Pork due to a rather traumatic childhood experience, LOL. Rabbit really does taste like chicken, the fresh range stuff; I’ve had it once and only once. Unfortunately, my mother happened to try rabbit out on the family the day our pet rabbit happened to go missing! Of course, she hadn’t cooked up our rabbit and we found the bunny alive and well.

At any rate, I don’t think I’ve ever seen rabbit available in the grocery store even should I ever get over the trauma.

However, I’ve been wanting to try out this recipe for awhile and, upon realizing I didn’t have the ingredients to make up the stew I’d planned, I substituted my stew pork meat for rabbit.

Beer-Braised Rabbit

1 3 lb domestic rabbit, cut up (used 2 and ½ lbs of pork)
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 medium potatoes, quartered
4 medium carrots, cut into ½ inch pieces
1 medium onion, sliced and separated into rings
1 12 oz bottle of beer (used Killian’s Irish Red because I always think of this as an Irish dish, LOL) or 1 and ½ cups apple juice
¼ cup chili sauce (which I didn’t have so used about 1 teaspoon of chili powder)
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup cold water
2 tablespoons flour

Sprinkle rabbit with salt and pepper. In skillet brown on all sides in hot oil, drain fat. Add potatoes, carrots, and onion. Combine beer, chili sauce, and salt. Pour over meat and veggies. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 35 to 45 minutes, till tender. Remove rabbit and veggies, keep warm. For sauce, skim fat from pan juices. Combine water and flour, stir into pan juices. Cook and stir till thickened. Serve sauce with rabbit and veggies. Make 4 servings.

As you can see by the picture, I returned the meat and veggies to the sauce and served it up that way.

Because I think of this as an Irish dish, I made up a batch of Soda Bread to go along with it.

Irish Soda Bread

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter
1 beaten egg
¾ cup buttermilk (substitution sour milk which is made by mixing 1 cup milk with 1 tablespoon lemon juice and letting stand for 5 minutes)

In a bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut in butter till mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Combine egg and buttermilk, add to flour mixture. Stir till just moistened. On a lightly floured surface, knead gently for 12 strokes. On greased baking sheet, shape into a 6 inch round loaf. Cut a 4 inch, ¼ inch deep, cross on the top. Brush with 1 beaten egg. Bake in a 375 oven about 35 minutes or till golden.

Both recipes come from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book.


A very yummy dinner! (If the entire family had been home to eat, I would have also made a side salad.)