But although we no longer have Bunnings DIY here in England, we do have the Norfolk firm of Bunnings, an excellent fishmonger based a few miles south of our village. They supply fish, wild meat and game to a number of Norfolk Stores, they will deliver it to your door, or you can find the man-with-the-van at the market. Last Friday I stopped to buy kipper fillets for breakfast - just a little more expensive than the supermarkets, but infinitely more flavour. And the guy had fresh rabbits for sale. Bob used to eat rabbit a lot in his youth - his Mum cooked it, and it was often served in his college dining room. It is not a meat I have often cooked. In the 80s my colleague raved about the frozen Chinese rabbit meat on sale in Sainsburys - but I did not want to eat something that had travelled halfway round the world. Bunnings rabbits are all local, from Norfolk. Mine cost £3.50, oven ready.
Bob deftly jointed it when I got home, and it went in the slow cooker with onions, carrots, and potatoes - plus salt, pepper, thyme and juniper berries - and some chicken stock. It was a delicious meal and served us for two days. 
I think that's pretty good value for money.
And now you can enjoy Bluey as she visits the other Bunnings!
I've not grown up eating rabbit, so it's not something I think of. My were discussing it on The Kitchen Cabinet, BBCradio 4, last weekend.
ReplyDeleteYes, I listened to TKC - but after we had enjoyed our rabbit!
DeleteBack in the 50’s and 60’s, my father kept meat rabbits in our backyard. Our after school job, every day, was to go ‘up the fields’ and fill a sack with dandelion leaves, to help feed them. We were a large family and money was scarce. We ate a lot of rabbit!
ReplyDeleteBarbara.
🐇🐰🐇I had not heard the term "meat rabbits " before
DeleteYou made good use of that rabbit and it made several low cost meals for you. I have not eaten rabbit and I haven't seen it for sale, here.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's more of a European dish
DeleteNever took you for a bunny boiler!!!LOL
ReplyDeleteI was on holiday in Sicily once and went to a relative of my husband's family for dinner. They refused to tell us before we ate what meat we would be eating and it subsequently transpired that it was rabbit (coniglio). They thought I wouldn't eat it if I knew what they were serving but little did they know I was brought up on Scottish rabbit cooked expertly by my Grandma!
Now that would have been a good title "Ang, The Bunny Boiler" ... But it was simmered. Didn't see rabbit on the menu when we were in Sicily (but then I didn't know the word coniglio, so maybe I missed it)
DeleteI remember my grandfather shooting rabbits (considered a pest here in New Zealand) and my grandmother made delicious rabbit stew. Nowadays I don’t know anyone who could supply me and it’s not sold in shops. What a pity.
ReplyDeleteMargaret
It seems to have fallen from favour
DeleteWe ate rabbit a lot when we lived on the farm with my Grandparents. It was mostly in a stew but sometimes it was roasted. We liked it but I haven't eaten rabbit in a very long time. We do have a local butcher with a game licence and he often has whole rabbits for sale. I hardly eat any meat now and my husband is not tempted so don't think we will be having any. Regards Sue H
ReplyDeleteWe eat much less meat these days too. Not sure if I will do it again
DeleteI've never eaten rabbit, my Mum used to as a child, but then when we were small we had a pet rabbit and Mum found she no longer wanted to eat them ... phew. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI guess the first day you had a 'roast', or was it really toast?
It really WAS toast. I had a few slices of bread needing to be eaten up, so I made toast to mop up the juices and wipe our plates clean. A lovely finish to the meal
DeleteAh, that makes sense. :-)
DeleteI bred gourmet Californian meat rabbits for several years as part of our wartime rationing project. They were popular at the Church pensioners’ lunches and I made rabbit pies for buffet lunches at Smallholders and Beekeepers. Our local butcher would exchange a Sunday joint for a large rabbit, or bag full of the cheaper cuts, such as sheep hearts, I wanted and he told me how best to cook them. Everyone used to eat wild rabbit regularly in the 40s as they eat chicken now.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting comparison - rabbit 60 years ago and chicken now. During the war a local butcher used to bring rabbits round to my grandmother who would prepare them for sale on his market stall. Yes they were popular then
DeleteRabbit was often on the menu when I was a child as it was cheap and in plentiful supply. I only cooked it once for my husband, who was not a fan!
ReplyDeleteYou both need to enjoy it if you are going to put it on the menu.
DeleteI used to really enjoy rabbit pie growing up in the UK in the 50's. Later , when I went home, a neighbour would bring one over for Mum to fix for me. Poor Mum, she had to skin it etc. It all finished one day when she found the poor bun had babies inside her. It upset her. Later we had a house rabbit for 8 years, that was part of the reason my daughter (then 14) became a vegetarian and my husband would no longer order rabbit if it was ever on a menu. I confess that I would eat it again but only if it came ready prepared. JanF
ReplyDeleteHaving them as pets would affect how you feel about eating them!
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