Rascally rabbit

The Easter bunny doesn’t have to be hollow and chocolate

By Liz Crain

February 29, 2008

With Easter around the corner, kids will soon be crying for foil-wrapped chocolate bunnies, hypercolor birdie Peeps, candy-coated eggs, and loads of other animal-shaped holiday candies. It’s doubtful, however, that any tot will beg Mom or Dad to cook the Easter bunny itself for dinner.

Cookiecrumb, of the food blog I'm Mad and I Eat, is interested in the real hopping deal. She recently cooked up her first-ever braised rabbit. In mid-February, she sourced a whole local rabbit and even did some of the butchering herself. She braised the rabbit in a savory combo of chicken stock, champagne, olive oil, vegetables, and herbs, and was quite satisfied with how it turned out.

In addition, Cookiecrumb felt it her duty to share not only her recipe and flavor notes but also photos:

I took the picture of the whole carcass on purpose, though. For one thing, as these bunny parts stew in the oven, the meat is shrinking away from the bone, and it’s not pretty. For another thing, there’s a movement of scaredy-cats who cry when they see a photo like this, and I believe they are due for some reality conditioning.

If you eat meat, it’s good to remember where it comes from. A chocolate bunny, though? Not quite the same thing.