The question of how to pickle a rabbit is relevant for everyone who is lucky to buy his carcass. Without pickling, the desired softness cannot be achieved. Any culinary actions undertaken without this cooking step are doomed to failure. An alternative can only be a prolonged soaking of the carcass in water - preferably flowing, but quite frequent change of filling (at least once per hour) is acceptable. However, this method of preliminary preparation of meat is somewhat tedious, so people still prefer pickling.
Gourmets value rabbit marinated in white wine the most . However, we will show a breadth of views on cooking and give an overview of almost all the marinades used. By the way, they all have a right to exist, and not only that - each of the options gives the rabbit meat its own, unobtrusive, but unique flavor note.
Vinegar marinade
We make a reservation right away: before pickling a rabbit, it should be chopped in portions. Basically this animal is cooked in parts. There are, of course, recipes for whole carcasses, but it cannot be said that they are super successful. So, describing the composition of the marinades, we will not mention this necessary action every time.
Vinegar is often used for pickling. However, so that you will not be “let down” by a pickled rabbit in the future , the recipe advises you to choose a wine product - it is more tender. In its pure form, vinegar is not suitable for softening meat. It is bred in water so that the smell is barely audible. The carcass is left in solution for three hours, after which it is washed. Disadvantage: vinegar clogs meat aroma, but its own practically will not destroy.
Soft pickle
One of the very good ways to pickle a rabbit. Designed, in fact, for rabbit meat, but in a rabbit, it is more tender, so the result satisfies everyone. Water is boiled for the marinade, quarters of onions, large pieces of carrots and celery, lavrushka and allspice peas are laid in it. After boiling, apple cider vinegar is poured into the hot marinade - two-thirds of the remaining water. Due to the temperature, the smell basically disappears. The rabbit in the cooled composition is aged for about four hours.
Balsamic version
Professional chefs recommend combining vinegar with oil. Moreover, vinegar should be taken balsamic, and olive oil. The last prescription is not necessary to observe: the usual sunflower is quite suitable for pickling - we are not seasoning a refined salad. But the Balsamico vinegar is important. Combined with seasonings and several types of pepper, it gives rabbit meat a very delicate aroma. Garlic will also have to go to the yard. But you still need to marinate the meat for at least two hours.
Serum Marinade
Simple and very effective technology, how to pickle a rabbit. Tested on hares, so the result is guaranteed. Just pour the chopped carcass with whey so that nothing sticks out of the liquid. For flavor, you can add dill. After eight hours, the meat becomes tender.
Kefir marinade
This product is thicker than whey, so pickling will take more time - half a day, no less. Before pickling a rabbit in kefir, onions are chopped into rings - a lot, but not a pity. The rabbit carcass is sprinkled with seasonings with salt and transferred to onions. If the base is thick, the contents of the bowl are mixed by hand. Poured low-fat kefir should completely cover rabbit meat. After 12 hours, spicy mustard is poured into the marinade, everything is mixed and left for another 30 minutes. Be sure that the taste of the final product will delight you.
Sour Cream Marinade
Stewing a rabbit in sour cream is almost the most popular way to cook it. However, it is not necessary to cook it that way . A rabbit marinated in sour cream mixed with a small amount of olive oil, spices and herbs can also be baked in the oven. You just need to keep him in the marinade for at least three hours.
Mayonnaise Marinade
French sauce defeated all others in demand, possibly not inferior to it. They are seasoned with everything - from salad to borsch, which actually requires sour cream. But in our case, we should pay tribute to him: the rabbit marinated in mayonnaise turns out to be soft, aromatic and juicy. The product preparation process does not require much work: first the meat is seasoned, then onions are poured (rings, a lot), then mayonnaise is poured, and the contents of the bowl are manually mixed. The rabbit should stand in the marinade for half a day. They say that if it is held for 24 hours, it becomes incredibly tender.
Beer Marinade
Beer is much closer to our people than wine. Not surprisingly, he invented a way to pickle a rabbit in his favorite hop drink. Moreover, the recipe does not require any special culinary “squats”. Rabbit meat is mixed with spices and a large amount of onion, poured with beer (light to take or dark - you decide), which is mixed with a couple of spoons of balsamic vinegar and warmed to boiling. In such a marinade, the meat is left for half a day.
Garlic & Herb Olive Oil
This composition is the second most popular all over the world (on the first - a rabbit marinated in white wine). The basic recipe includes four tablespoons of olive (and it is necessary!) Oil, a large (but not excessive for you personally) amount of crushed garlic and chopped herbs, usually cilantro and parsley. Slices of rabbit meat are carefully rubbed with the mixture and marinated in the refrigerator for at least three hours. Before further cooking, the excess is whisked off the meat.
Honey and Soya Marinade
No matter what they say, those who prefer to pickle a rabbit in white wine, this method is much more suitable for ordinary citizens. Of course, it takes as much time, but the meat turns out to be spicy, moderately salty and very soft. For the marinade, two large spoons of soy sauce and vegetable (this time the origin is not essential, sunflower oil) oil, a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice and two teaspoons of natural liquid honey are combined. Rabbit is rubbed in advance with pepper and salt, then cooked with marinade, sprinkled with onion (in large quantities, it must also give its juice to the marinade) and after stirring it is put in the refrigerator. There she will stay a day, no less! But then you can do culinary miracles with her: she will not lose her softness.
Unusual marinade
Sprinkling meat with lemon juice is not a discovery. This technique is often used. If you are interested in how to pickle a rabbit so that it becomes an unforgettable taste, you should go further. Half a cup of mayonnaise, three crushed cloves of garlic, ground pepper and salt are mixed in a bowl. All this is spread on a chopped rabbit (a kilo of meat is enough for sure), and then generously sprinkled with lemon juice. On all sides meat is sliced with slices of lemon and orange; for better impregnation, it is wrapped with a film and left for an hour.
Dish with custom pickled rabbit
You can’t pass by and leave the meat, so carefully pickled in the previous recipe, to your own devices. It’s not a question - his future fate can be varied: it can, for example, be stewed or fried in a pan. However, it will turn out much tastier if you wrap rabbit in foil with slices of citrus and bake a delicacy in the oven for forty minutes. Halfway through the “path” (that is, a third of an hour after being placed in the oven), the foil is removed from the rabbit and the dish is brought to a juicy blush. The marinated rabbit thus prepared in the oven will delight you not only with its appearance and taste, but also with its magical aroma.
Wine for marinade
Moving on to the most common way to prepare a rabbit carcass. The most popular tradition is to pickle a rabbit in white wine. It is quite justified, since wine discourages possible animal odors, softens rabbit meat, but does not clog its taste. The easiest option is when the rabbit is poured with wine without any additions and left in it for a day, or better two. Marinade does not need to be washed off afterwards - it will serve as another seasoning in further cooking.
Mustard marinade
Only wine is quite ordinary. One of the ways to pickle a rabbit in wine - we admit, not only in it, because additional components will only bring some grace - also includes mustard. It should not be a mega-oyster - not everyone likes "thermonuclear" dishes. For a marinade, two full tablespoons of mustard are mixed with a glass of white wine. You can supplement it with thyme and rosemary. The chopped rabbit is coated (poured) with dressing and kept in it for an hour. But if you keep the meat in the marinade longer - it will only benefit from it.
Barbecue marinade
Rabbit meat is not very suitable for barbecue - it’s rather dry, and there is not enough meat to eat from the heart. However, a rabbit marinated in white wine can be grilled. For this, half a liter of dry white wine, half a teaspoon of red pepper and two tablespoons of mustard are mixed for two kilos of meat. The latter can simply be spread with rabbit slices, after which they are immersed in the marinade. The rabbit should be in it for an hour and a half. But remember: the longer the rabbit is pickled, the better for you.
Red wine
In world practice, it is customary to pickle a rabbit in white wine. However, no one is stopping you from taking red. It should be noted that in red this product turns out to be more juicy and suitable for experiments in the process of further processing. For fans of picnics, this is especially important, since a rabbit marinated in red grape wine is especially good for open flames. It is marinated in the same way as the simplest method using a white-wine recipe: it is simply poured with “blood of grapes” and left alone. True, red wine needs at least 18 hours to soften rabbit meat. Lemon juice squeezed directly into a bowl with a workpiece will help to speed up the process a little.
Already pickled, the rabbit in the oven can be accompanied by a variety of components: vegetables, nuts, dried fruits, other meat and an abundance of various sauces. But the most important thing you have learned: it is important to properly marinate the meat. And you can do it the way you like.