How to soak rabbit and hare meat: recipes with water, wine, vinegar, milk

Rabbit and hare are diet products, the preparation of which requires certain skills. It is widely believed that it is necessary to soak a rabbit before cooking. In fact, the more specific smell of hare is that in the case of game, preparatory work is indispensable.

Differences between meat of a hare and a rabbit

Both the rabbit and the hare belong to the “hare-like” order, however, there are external and taste differences between them.

Rabbit meat

Rabbit meat is the meat of domesticated animals. Although rabbits are still found in the wild to this day, individuals from farms are used as food.

Farmers grow rabbits of meat breeds, characterized by a large amount of muscle tissue, fast weight gain. The meat of these animals is more tender than that of hares. This is due to the peculiarities of nutrition in captivity, a sedentary lifestyle.

In rare cases, rabbit meat can have an unpleasant odor. It is inherent in males. Such carcasses are subject to mandatory soaking.

Young animals fall into mass sale, since the average term for raising rabbits on a farm is about six months. Their meat has a delicate texture and a pleasant aroma.

Soaking a rabbit allows you to get rid of the slightest third-party odors and give it a spicy taste.

Hare

Unlike rabbit meat, hare is harder to find on store shelves. A hare dish on the dining table is the result of a successful hunt. Carcasses, as a rule, differ from rabbit carcasses in large size. In a visual comparison, rabbit meat is more red, saturated with blood.

Special snares can be used for fishing, but more often hares are killed on amateur hunting. The animal experiences stress, triggering a series of chemical reactions; there is a sharp surge of adrenaline. The hormone affects the metabolism of sugars, and as a result, the pH of the rabbit muscle tissue changes.

The appearance of a hare carcass makes it difficult to reliably determine whether the meat will be soft, aromatic or with a specific smell. Unknown remains the age of the animal, especially its nutrition.

According to hunters, the youngest hare will be the most delicious - up to 1 year. You can determine the age by the following signs:

• knees are thicker, unlike fragile paws;
• ears are smaller than adult hares;
• the neck is shorter.

Regardless of age, it is necessary to soak the hare, but the meat of a young animal is subjected to not so long processing. The procedure will eliminate the unpleasant odor and a slight aftertaste of bitterness.

How to soak meat?

Before cooking, you should figure out how to properly soak the carcasses of a wild hare and a rabbit.

To improve the quality of meat suitable:

• water,
• vinegar solution
• milk,
• wine,
• water with citruses,
• serum.

Soak the rabbit before cooking

Tender rabbit meat is enough to put in a couple of hours in the water. With a lack of time and half an hour, it will be enough for the rabbit to become more fragrant and tender.

As a soaking liquid, suitable:

• Milk serum. In it, without adding anything, you can soak the rabbit for a period of up to 8 hours.
• Sour cream, cream - a classic addition to meat, giving it juiciness.
• A mixture of olive oil with chopped clove of garlic and spices. This marinade will make the meat softer and more flavorful.
• White wine. It will help get rid of odor and soften muscle fibers.
• Water with kiwi pulp.Thanks to the fruit acids contained in the fruit, the meat will “melt in the mouth”.

To make the baked rabbit in the oven brown and look more appetizing, you must lubricate the meat with a mixture of honey and mustard.

Often the carcass is soaked in vinegar, but if the rabbit is young and fresh, the meat can go bad, “burn out”, so a very weak vinegar solution should be prepared (2 tbsp. Vinegar per 1 liter of water). Half an hour will be enough to remove the third-party smack and smell.

Tips:

• The most delicious will be rabbit carcasses weighing up to 1.7 kg. The meat of large individuals is harsh and will require prolonged soaking.
• The back, more fatty part is better used for frying, and from the front you can cook a diet soup.

It is necessary to cook the rabbit in dishes with a thick bottom to constantly maintain high temperature. Ceramic pots are suitable for baking, and ducklings are suitable for stewing in sour cream according to the classic recipe.

What and how much time to soak a hare

If you do not soak the hare, the meat will have a specific smell, bitter. Knowing the basics of preliminary preparation of a carcass, you can calculate how long it will take to prepare a dish of hare.

For soaking fit:

• Water. The soaking duration is 12-24 hours. In the process, it is recommended to change the water 3-4 times.
• Acetic solution. It is prepared similarly to a rabbit marinade (2 tablespoons per 1 liter of water). Processing time should not exceed 1 hour. To give a pleasant aroma, you can replace table vinegar with apple.
• Fresh milk. It will eliminate unpleasant odors, make the meat a little sweet. If you add spices to milk, you get an excellent marinade.
• Grape juice. Soaking the hare in a spicy grape marinade with the addition of celery, thyme, onion will make it possible to prepare a fragrant dish with a unique taste. The soaking period is 2 days, and the carcass should be stored in the refrigerator. After the hare is fried in butter to give a creamy taste, a little marinade is poured into the pan, which will be the meat sauce.

Hare meat requires a longer soak. The same should be done with the carcass of a wild rabbit.

Rabbit meat and hare are low-calorie hypoallergenic foods rich in B vitamins, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. The value is protein absorbed by the body by 90%. Do not deny yourself the use of such a nutritious product because of the specific smell, because it is easy to eliminate it by soaking.