For domestic rabbits any chicken recipe will work fine. I like to brown and then bake with good mushroom sauce as you would make smothered chicken. Or rabbit chacittore is fine too.
Both previous posters ideas are good....if not fried rabbit can be baked with any chicken recipe that is "saucy"...that is where some liquid covers the meat...it doesnt have the fat inherent in chicken and will dry out otherwise. Like Same..my fave is fried.... Simple and good!
We had a german guy at our deer camp who made "hassenpheiffer" which although probably mispelled, I think is the german word for rabbit. Anyway it was a fairly complicated recipe that included marinating for 24 hrs, but it was very good. Maybe someone will chime in with the recipe.
Rabbit, dressed and cut into serving pieces -- 3 pounds Salt and pepper -- to taste Flour -- 1/2 cup Bacon, diced -- 1/3 pound Shallots or onion, diced -- 5 shallots or 1 onion Garlic, minced -- 2-3 cloves Cognac or brandy -- 1/4 cup Beef broth -- 1 1/2 cups Red wine -- 1 cup Lemon, sliced 1/4-inch rounds -- 1 Fresh thyme -- 1 sprig Fresh rosemary -- 1 small sprig Whole allspice berries -- 4 Juniper berries -- 3 Whole cloves -- 2 Bay leaf -- 1 Salt and pepper -- to taste Currant or grape jelly -- 1 tablespoon Butter -- 2 tablespoons Flour -- 1/4 cup Method Season the rabbit with salt and pepper. Put the flour in a large bowl and add the rabbit to the bowl, tossing the pieces to coat them with the flour. Shake off the excess flour and set the floured rabbit pieces aside. Add the bacon to a large pot over medium-high heat and saut� to render its fat, 3-4 minutes. Add the shallots or onion and garlic and saut� until translucent and cooked through but not browned. Remove the bacon and shallots or onions to a bowl and set aside. Reserve some of the bacon fat in the pot. Add more oil to the pot if necessary and return the pot to medium-high flame. Brown the rabbit a few pieces at a time on all sides and set aside. Reduce heat to medium, and carefully add the cognac or brandy (it may flame up). Cook until its volume is reduced by about half. Return the rabbit pieces to the pot and add the broth, wine, lemons, thyme, rosemary, allspice, juniper berries, cloves, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. While rabbit is cooking, knead the butter and flour together with your fingers to form a smooth dough. You will use this to thicken the sauce. When the rabbit is cooked through and tender, remove it to a serving dish. Strain the sauce through a fine sieve, discarding the solids. Stir the reserved bacon and shallots or onion back into the sauce. Add more stock or water if necessary to make about 2 cups. Return sauce to a simmer on the stove and whisk a small piece of the butter and flour mixture into the sauce and return to a simmer. Keep whisking pieces into the sauce until it reaches a nice consistency. Adjust seasoning, pour the sauce over the rabbit and serve. Variations If you can't find or don't have juniper berries, substitute gin for the cognac. Gin gets its flavor from juniper berries. Vinegar is sometimes used instead of the lemon to add a sour tang to the dish.
Try this sometime, I do it with rabbit or chicken ---
Slow cook it in water, with a little seasoning and maybe an onion if you like that. Let the meat cool after it is cooked to fall off the bone tender, then bone it. Use the boned meat in just about anything -- I like it in gumbo, jambalaya, and sometimes in variations of chili. Pot pie or shepherd's pie is good too.
I never had a wild rabbit worth eating. Maybe domesticated ones are better?
In France and Italy (and much of Europe), raising rabbits in backyard hutches for eating is very common. There it's sort of like chicken, and is in fact classified as poultry.
We used to raise rabbits and could produce meat for less than 50 cents a pound using commercial feed. In five weeks from birth there was 5 lbs of clean meat. It is a white meat but actually does not taste at all like chicken. We ate so much of it my wife refuses to eat or cook it. I am still very fond of rabbit, but now all I eat is wild rabbit, or rather varrying hare.
