Rabbits may have been a problem in the U.S. and Australia in the first half of the 20th century, but they also provided an important food source for poorer families.
These article from the Ladies Home Journal offers lots of different recipes for cooking rabbits.
JACK RABBITS have for many years been regarded as pests in the Southwest. That they should ever become a staple article of food, as well as a money-maker for the Red Cross country units of Oklahoma, was a surprise to even the wide-awake country club women who, by judicious newspaper publicity, frequent rabbit drives and skillful cooking, created both demand and supply. Not only did they furnish the city markets, but they first cut oft the ears of the rabbits, turned them in at the county treasurer’s office and got a bounty on them! The fame of their “bunny sausage” spread to Washington, and an expert was sent to investigate their methods and secure the recipe. Here it is:
Bunny Sausage. After skinning the rabbit, soak the meat overnight in salt water. In the morning cut the meat from the bones and run it through the meat grinder. For every pound of meat add one-quarter of a medium-sized onion, cut fine, two-thirds of a teaspoonful of salt, half a teaspoonful of black pepper, one-sixteenth of a teaspoonful of cayenne, “two tablespoonfuls of bread or cracker crumbs and one-eighth of a cupful of sweet cream. Make into pats after mixing well, and fry slowly in a covered pan until well done. One good-sized jack rabbit will make fifteen pats. Cottontails or Belgian hares may be used.
Canned Bunny Sausage. The only absolutely safe method of canning meat of any description in the Southwest and the South is with a steam-pressure canner, which gives a maximum heat. Put the cooked sausages into sterilized jars. Add enough hot water to the fat in which they were cooked to fill the cans one-quarter full of the liquid, adding also one teaspoonful of salt for every pint of the liquid. Bring to a boil, pour over the sausages in the jars, put on the rubbers and partly fasten the covers. Process pint jars for forty-five minutes at fifteen pounds pressure and quart jars for fifty-five minutes at fifteen pounds pressure.
THE three recipes following have been originated in the farm homes of Oklahoma:
Rabbit Chili. Instead of beet, use rabbit in making chili. Cook the rabbit until the meat falls from the bones. Add to the meat from a good-sized rabbit two tablespoonfuls of butter or butter substitute, one cupful of cooked red beans, and salt, pepper and chili powder to suit individual taste.
Rabbit Loaf. Cook the meat until tender. Remove the meat from the bones and run it through a meat grinder. Add an equal amount of bread crumbs (corn bread is just as good as white bread), one-quarter of a medium-sized onion, cut fine, half a teaspoonful of salt, one-quarter of a teaspoonful of pepper and one teaspoonful of powdered sage; moisten with the broth in which the rabbit was cooked. Put the mixture in a baking pan, lay on thin slices
of salt pork, and bake for twenty minutes.
Spiced Rabbit. Wash the rabbit meat in soda water, cut it into pieces and lay it in salt water for one hour. Then let it stand overnight in vinegar and water, diluting the vinegar one-half. Remove, place in a baking pan, dredge with flour, sprinkle with salt and pepper and cut a small onion into bits over it. Dot
with one tablespoonful of butter substitute. Add three or four cloves, half a bay leaf, a few peppercorns, a little vinegar and enough hot water to half cover. Cover closely and bake slowly until very tender. Just before serving remove the cover and brown the pieces lightly. Thicken the gravy and pour over the rabbit in a serving dish.
OTHER excellent ways to cook rabbit will be found in the following recipes, which are also indorsed by the Government: