Soaking Rabbit in Salt water (2024)

FAQs

Soaking Rabbit in Salt water? ›

The meat is slightly darker and has more flavor, but can also be slightly tougher,” says Eley, who explains that the best way to prepare a wild rabbit is to soak it in either a saltwater solution or buttermilk. Saltwater will draw out any remaining blood and start to tenderize it.

Often described as a stronger version of chicken, rabbit has a slightly sweet, vaguely gamey flavour and a pleasant texture, with wild rabbit having a much deeper flavour than farmed. Wild rabbits can be soaked in cold water for 3 hours to whiten the flesh if preferred.

Steps to Brine Rabbit

The ratio of salt to water is typically 1 cup of salt to 1 gallon of water.

Banned Drinks For Bunnies

Additionally, it's known that rabbits shouldn't consume a lot of sugars, salts, or fats.

A Brine Keeps the Rabbit Moist

And while the combination seasons the rabbit nicely, the buttermilk and salt give you a little wiggle room to ensure that the cooked rabbit doesn't dry out.

In order to tenderize the meat, we are going to marinate the rabbit overnight. For the deep fried rabbit, I prepared a buttermilk base with some rosemary and thyme. The recipe below will give you the exact ingredients. Make sure it soaks for a minimum of 12 hours, but 24 is better.

If you've got liquid in the crock pot with the rabbit, you can continue to let it cook on low heat for several hours and it will continue to tenderize. In the pan, young rabbit can be pan-fried on medium or high heat with care that it is well-coated in oil or fat, and not left on the heat any longer than necessary.

Most over-brining simply makes everything a little too salty, and you can soak the meat in cold water to draw out the excess salt. If you really let it go too long—as in, brining for days instead of hours—things may go beyond repair. Doing so can make your meat mushy, and there's no way to fix that!

In general pet rabbits don't need access to a salt lick in order to remain healthy. However like most animals, they need sodium to live and maintain bodily functions. Sodium is one of the major components of salt. So rabbits do need salt, but they are able to get all of the salt they need from their regular diet.

Basic Brine

Place that volume of water in a container large enough to hold the brine and the meat. Add 1 tablespoon of salt for every cup of water you used and mix until the salt is completely dissolved. For example, if you are using 1 gallon (16 cups) of water, add 16 tablespoons (1 cup) of salt.

Why do rabbits stop drinking water? ›

If your rabbit is dehydrated, something is preventing him or her from drinking. Rabbits can be finicky about the taste of their water; if this has changed, they may stop drinking because they do not like the “flavor” of the water, even though failure to drink water might make them very ill.

As a prey species, rabbits do not like to feel vulnerable, and being in water isn't a natural position for a rabbit to be in. Rabbits also tend to panic when in water, and can easily fracture their spine or a limb if they thrash around whilst in water.

My bunnies have always just had regular tap water, and as far as I know, there has been no problem with it. I give my bunnies filtered water from the sink.

4 cups of water. ½ cup of salt. 6 big cloves of garlic. 1 tablespoon of crushed peppercorn.

Salt or Mineral Blocks for Your Rabbit

Salt or mineral blocks are not necessary for your rabbit.

Rabbits are meticulously clean and almost never need a bath. Bathing them can even be harmful, since they tend to panic in water and may fracture a limb or their spine if they thrash around.

Marinating the rabbit for 2 hours is actually ideal since the marinade will have more time to permeate and flavor the meat. Preheat the oven to 425º. Prepare an ovenproof frying pan by adding the butter to it and warming it over medium-high heat.

This is totally unnecessary and potentially very harmful to rabbits. Rabbits do not require routine bathing and in fact frequent washing, either with or without shampoo, strips the rabbit's fur of its natural oils, which helps to keep the rabbit's coat in good condition.