Using not so conventional animals for food.. UPDATE - Page 3

[Leslianne]

That said, I haven't tried raising meat animals myself yet.  I'm squimish... though that won't stop me in the long run, it's just going to make the transition a little slower.

[Chicky2]

You definitely don't want "pudgy" rabbits.  They won't breed well.

Ok, so I raise rabbits.  Californians, and they are FANTASTIC.  We prefer them 100% over chickens as far as butchering goes.  They are MUCH easier to butcher, even when we just skin our chickens rather than plucking.  We also raise quail, guinea fowl, chickens, muscovy ducks, dairy goats, and bees.  As for the rabbit meat, domestic meat rabbit is all white from head to tail.  It is tender and yummy and can be used any way chicken can.  As a matter of fact, I'm currently kinda pissy because my chicken hens won't stop going broody and hatching chicks.  I don't WANT more chickens!  If you were here I would give you a dozen!

Since you said you were getting chickens, I do hope that you are getting a breed that tends to go broody, and also a good mothering instinct.  Some will sit on a clutch and hatch them out only to abandon them.  I would make sure that if you are letting them sit, you have a heat lamp, ice cube tray (or egg carton) for a feeder, paper towels, pine shavings, and a mason jar w/a red screw on waterer bottom and a rubbermaid tub or other suitable box for an emergency brooder.  We just had to rescue 2 newly hatched chicks that our duck apparently had been sitting on and then when they hatched she threw them out of the nest.  Just sayin'....

All that said, enjoy your chickens, please post pics, and when/if you get ready for rabbits, I have gobs of info for ya!

Oh, and as for the original reason for your posting, OP, my dd has 3 guinea pigs (mama and 2 babies), and no male.  We don't intend to eat them, but sure would if we needed to!  I really think the ones in America aren't as big as the cavies eaten on that show (am I wrong?  It's been awhile since I saw that episode but totally KWYM about Anthony Bourdain!).

[Ldavis24]

I have read the Californian rabbits are the way to go.

We actually saw rabbit in our grocery store for the first time ever and I bought it just because neither of us had ever tried and if we do eventually get rabbits I'd like to know I like the taste, or rather I know I'd like it but DH isn't sure...

So now I don't know what to do with this rabbit we have to eat. I bet it isn't nearly as good (or humanely raised, sigh) as a backyard rabbit but I needed DH to at least taste so we can get an idea.

As far as chickens go, I don't know how broody my girls will be. I am considering just brooding some chicks myself because we can't have a rooster here anyway.

I imagine the little cavies where Tony Bourdain was are much larger than the ones here. or at least they looked that way. Maybe I should just move to Peru...Home of a zillion different kinds of potatoes and tasty little animals. Sounds like heaven to a meat eating potato lover...

Did I mention I have a huge crush on Anthony Bourdain...A man who is old enough to technically be my father

Oh someone mentioned squirrel too. From those I have spoken to have in fact eaten them, they are apparently YUMMY!

How can I trap a squirrel without having to shoot it? Or it having a miserably slow painful death? I can't be firing guns where I live, way too close to the neighbors, although that doesn't stop the teenage kid next door from firing his stupid BB gun into our YARD (hit a window one time)

[Chicky2]

I've eaten squirrel lots of times.  Not my favorite, but it'll do.  My fav. way is smoked, deboned, and then added to a pot of beans.  My dh grew up squirrel hunting in KY.  As for your rabbit, how big is it?  You can marinate it (my fav. is blueberry/basil vinegar and honey, salt and peper and garlic), and then roast it covered (add a drizzle of oil or butter) til it's done (165 or so on a meat thermometer--I don't use it, but I know if it looks tender it's done).  Or cut it up and bread and oven fry.  (great like that w/breadcrumbs) but I only like to do that if I'm sure it's going to be a tender one.  Or stew it and make soup, white chili, etc...  Post back and tell how it was!

[Caneel]

Originally Posted by Ldavis24 

Did I mention I have a huge crush on Anthony Bourdain...A man who is old enough to technically be my father

Oh someone mentioned squirrel too. From those I have spoken to have in fact eaten them, they are apparently YUMMY!

How can I trap a squirrel without having to shoot it? Or it having a miserably slow painful death? I can't be firing guns where I live, way too close to the neighbors, although that doesn't stop the teenage kid next door from firing his stupid BB gun into our YARD (hit a window one time)

I am with you the Bourdain thing....Did you read Kitchen Confindential?  If you didn't, I recommend it.  That is where it started with me.  The TV show was fuel on the fire.

Concerning squirrels - They can be nasty little suckers when cornered/trapped/threatened so I can't imagine how you would remove one from a cage trap.  I don't know that their feeding habits would work with one of those old fashion jaw traps.  I have a trapping handbooks from the 30s and I will look up squirrels and report back next week.    A slingshot would work but that will take some practice.

My grandmother regularly cooked wild rabbit and squirrels.  I remember lots of casseroles and stews for squirrels as well as roasted rabbit.  I remember rabbit marindaded in brandy as well as in red wine with lots of herbs and garlic.  That side of the family was from England and I also remember her experimenting with French recipes so recipe research in those areas might be a good place to research.  She was an excellent cook and her preparations were on the fancy side of dining.  

Also, like a lot of wild animals, squirrel meat will take on the taste of what it is eating.  So if "your" squirrels are eating town food (like out of garbage cans like they do in my town) the meat might not taste so great.  If their diet is more native, the meat will taste better.  The squirrels I ate growing up were taken from the woods.  The physical difference betwen the squirrels I see in town versus the squirrels at our cabin is shocking.  The cabin squirrels are muscular and nicely filled out with shiny coats.  In town, they truly look like rats with fluffy tails.

Edited by Caneel - 4/12/11 at 8:25am

[Ldavis24]

Ok, roasted our little rabbit with some olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. i wanted to keep it VERY basic so we could really get a taste of what the meat was like. DH liked it, I liked it, DD LOVED it. She kept asking for more chicken (she thinks all meat is chicken anyway). It was a little chewy in spots but i honestly imagine because it was a factory farmed rabbit so I expected something like that. Yummy though and has confirmed that at some point we will work on the meat rabbit thing...

As far as squirrels...I don't know about trapping...I'll leave that one alone for now I guess. When we move to our dream place (up in northern New England in a few years) I will work on that as well. I totally understand the tasting like what they eat. I wouldn't even try a raccoon in a residential area because I can imagine they primarily are eating garbage...I also know squirrels are crazy little suckers. When I was in high school I hand raised 2 from infancy into adulthood and set them loose. They were NUTS, hehe. I loved them but was more than happy to say goodbye when they finally stopped coming to their little cage outside to sleep at night.

[Arduinna]

I wish could raise rabbits for food, dh loves them. But I have to make him cook them outside because the smell of them cooking is just utterly foul to me, I react to them like some people do to fish, actually worse they make me feel like literally wretching. Oh well. I'm glad you liked them, but dd likes them too.

[Ldavis24]

Originally Posted by Arduinna 

I wish could raise rabbits for food, dh loves them. But I have to make him cook them outside because the smell of them cooking is just utterly foul to me, I react to them like some people do to fish, actually worse they make me feel like literally wretching. Oh well. I'm glad you liked them, but dd likes them too.

hehe, this just made me giggle (not at your getting sick!) because this evening I was making burgers for dinner and I had to ask DH to shape the patties because I couldn't stand touching the ground beef...made me want to puke!

[Chicky2]

Were the ones you smelled before domestic rabbits, or wild?
 

Originally Posted by Arduinna 

I wish could raise rabbits for food, dh loves them. But I have to make him cook them outside because the smell of them cooking is just utterly foul to me, I react to them like some people do to fish, actually worse they make me feel like literally wretching. Oh well. I'm glad you liked them, but dd likes them too.

[Caneel]

Originally Posted by Caneel 

Concerning squirrels - They can be nasty little suckers when cornered/trapped/threatened so I can't imagine how you would remove one from a cage trap.  I don't know that their feeding habits would work with one of those old fashion jaw traps.  I have a trapping handbook from the 30s and I will look up squirrels and report back next week.    A slingshot would work but that will take some practice.

Nothing in the handbook about trapping squirrels.

[Ldavis24]

Originally Posted by Caneel 

Nothing in the handbook about trapping squirrels.

Hmm, I can imagine killing them in a live trap would be really tough to do it humanely and without getting clawed by a super angry/scared squirrel. My cousins used to just sit in their bedroom window and shoot them out of a window with BB guns. They were kids at the time, then they would roast them over an open fire and a lot of time I thought they were nuts...Now they would think I'm nuts if I told them I had some interest in trying squirrel...