Sunday 10 February 2008

Ferreting again!


Just got back from a great day's ferreting with Mark Gilchrist - Sporting Shooter's game chef. We didn't get a lot of rabbits - four to be precise. Still, it was a lovely bright sunny day and we had a good natter about everything to do with game meat and cookery. Perhaps those two things could explain why the rabbits were so reluctant to bolt!


Mark served up what must be the poshest ferreting lunch ever, with foie gras, brioche, smoked wigeon and dried strips of mallard, which we ate in the field.

And he explained why sometimes my rabbit turns tough as old boots. Apparently, if you cook rabbit for about an hour, it turns like rubber - you can actually bounce lumps of it off a hard surface, like a rubber ball. But if you cook it for 2 hours it goes tender again. Mark says it also helps to soak the rabbit overnight in salt water beforehand, too. So, my next rabbit stew is going to get the full 2 hours, and we'll see if it works!

More photos from our day here.

4 comments:

Holly Heyser said...

Now that's how to live! I'd rather have four rabbits, a great lunch and good conversation than just a big sack o' rabbits any day.

The Suburban Bushwacker said...

The long stew method is defiantly the way to go, I once tried roasting a road kill bunny over an open fire, tough as old boots is an understatement! The best bit was the mixture of horror and fascination it conjured up on the faces of the assembled campers!
Hope you're well
SBW

Nona said...

Fascinating blog ... and I enjoyed reading about how one goes about catching rabbits.

I'm afraid our ferrets would look at me as if I had lost my mind if I put them out in a field to hunt rabbits.

Mind you, if the price of meat climbs any higher here in Oz, perhaps I will have to make them earn their keep ;-)

taz tha ferretman said...

i love workin ma ferrets its even better when im workin them in the snow