Sunday, January 24, 2010

How do you cook a rabbit in the wild?

Ok so I was curious as to how this is done over a camp fire. Like I saw how if your ever out in the wild how to set a trap to catch a rabbit, but I cant find anywhere that shows how to actually cook it after you have skinned and gutted it. I'd prefer an explanation geared more towards lost in the wilderness with not to many previsions rather then a detailed explanation using items that can only be acquired by going to a store.How do you cook a rabbit in the wild?
Well, if you are truly lost with no provisions, which is a great example of going out unprepared, you could do it two different ways.





1 - You can spit it on a stick and either lean it over your fire, turning frequently, or over the fire on a couple of forked sticks. Either method will result in something only a very, very hungry man could appreciate, burned dry on the outside and nearly raw next to the bone. Not very appetizing, but somewhat better than eating it raw.





2 - Skin the critter and scrape or singe as much hair as possible off the hide. put four sticks in the ground and attach the skin to them, letting it belly as deeply as possible, forming a bowl. Put as much water in the bowl formed by the hide and sticks as it will hold. Gather a good pile of rocks, not big ones, that will fit inside the bowl without taking up lots of room. Build your campfire and heat the stones. While the stones are heating, cut up your rabbit into small pieces and gather whatever edible herbs you can find and add to the water. When the stones are good and hot, rake a couple or three out of the fire and using a couple of sticks, lift them and drop them into the water. At the beginning, you will need to change the stones pretty quick since they will loose heat fast until the water warms. Keep changing the cooled stones for stones fresh from the fire and eventually you will bring your soup to a boil. Keep adding hot stones and removing the cool ones until the rabbit is done. This takes more time and work than roasting, but will result in a tastier meal. A small shovel or some tongs will make changing rocks much easier. This BTW was one of the earliest cooking methods devised by man. If you have a big piece of dehaired hide or leather you can do the same thing by hanging it over your fire. Keep the fire low and don't let the water get low or your cook pot will catch fire.





That was what I'd do with nothing but a firearm, a knife, matches and a dead rabbit.





God willing, I won't be in that situation. So here is what I'd do in camp





I'd cut my rabbit up into pieces and dredge them in a mixture of :


1 cup of flour


3 teaspoons Salt


1/2 teaspoon Pepper.





I'd heat my Dutch Oven over coals and heat a half cup of oil, bacon drippings or lard, and saute the rabbit until golden brown.





After removing the rabbit from the Dutch oven, I'd toss in a couple of minced onions, or a good cup or reconstituted dried onion into the drippings and let them saute a couple of minutes. then I'd add:





6 cups of water


A big pinch of Oregano, or a Bay Leaf, depending on what is in my chuck box.





Return the rabbit to the pot and put the lid on and simmer for about 2 hours, or until the rabbit is tender and the gravy thickens. If the rabbit gets done before the gravy is thick enough to suit, add a little of the leftover flour mix and thicken to suit you. Add more salt if you think it needs it.





While the rabbit is cooking, I'd make some biscuits and cook some rice or noodles and when everything is ready, I'd have a feast.





DocHow do you cook a rabbit in the wild?
So much of survival is scavenging, so it all depends on what you are able to scavenge. An example is if your plane crashes in the middle of know where you may be able to improvise a pot to boil meat. As a last resort though you can always spit roast your meat. The important thing in spit roasting is to do it over coals not naked flame it will take a bit longer but you will be rewarded with less burnt meat. Remember the eyes have water in them. Hope that helps. I am assuming that you know how to skin and clean your rabbit
I watched a dog being cooked in Vietnam once


They just threw a bunch of palm fronds on top of it a set them on fire


Then just kept the fire going till it was done


Palm frond burn fast but not to hot so the dog was cooked through





I'm not sure they even skinned it first
well if you lost in the bush and your not a person that is familiar with the area then your pbobable screwed! no get the rabbit skin and gut if you can find a tree with a papper kind of bark wrap it up and bury it under some hot coals. for about 45min or a hour.
Besides the good methods already mentioned, there are all sorts of ways to cook that rabbit. You can steam it, bake it in clay mud, hang it with a wire or tree root over the fire, use a reflector, etc etc.





To steam it you build a fire in a pit with rocks and let the fire die down to coals, cover the coals with non-poisonous leaves like cattail, dandelion, skunk cabbage, burdock, lamb鈥檚 quarters, grass, etc the leaves have to be green and wet. Now place a layer of sand, gravel or dirt over the coals about 6 iches deep, lay the green leaves or grass over that, place rabbit on leaves and cover it with more leave, pour water over that till steam is rolling out, cover leaves ( a window screen or cotton cloth would be next if you have it to keep the dirt off) with dirt or clay mud or gravel, or a whole lot of leaves and grass. Wait a few hours and its all tender.





You can coat the rabbit with clay mud nice and thick and lay that on hot coals to cook. The clay will harden and seal in the moisture in the meat. The heat will sterilize the mud and meat.





Green sticks of non-poisonous plants and tress can be used to prop the bunny up near the coals by sharpening the tips and running them through the bunny and then into the ground or propped up with rocks.





You can dig up some small pencil size green tree roots and use then to hang bunny over coals (not flame).





Or you can just have a flat rock in the middle of the fire and lay the rabbit on it and flip it now and then with a green stick.





I will tell you this; I have eaten survival cooked meat these ways and with out salt or any seasoning it can be a bit bland lol! As in you just eat it and ignore the flavor OR know your plants and gather some natural herbs, wild onion and even watercress %26amp; dandelion makes things much more, well鈥?tolerable. You just punch tiny hole in the meat and insert the herb pieces.





Here are links with many more ways to cook that bunny. Save me writing a book lol!


http://www.nwsos.com/prim.htm


http://www.ssrsi.org/Onsite/PrimNG/cook1鈥?/a>


http://www.aircav.com/survival/asch12/as鈥?/a>





Do heed DOC H advice (he鈥檚 right as usual) poisonous plants can kill ya or make you very ill. The rule of thumb is; if you don鈥檛 know, don鈥檛 ingest it, or inhale it in any manner.





Nice recipe Doc makes me hungry now lol. I carry thick aluminum foil a stick of butter and a small plastic container of a flour spice mix with me. A fresh chilled rabbit, grouse or trout tastes mighty fine cooked with butter and spices in foil. Finger lickin good! And takes little space in the pack.

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