Ready in 120 minutes
Serves 6
An old French recipe
When people want to try rabbit but have never cooked it before, this is our go-to recipe suggestion! It’s absolutely delicious and is nearly impossible to screw up. If you taste the rabbit and it’s not meltingly tender, just cook it in the sauce a bit more -- don’t worry, you got this.
Ingredients
1 rabbit
1/2 bottle red wine
1 onion or 2-3 shallots
1 tablespoon lard
Hunk of butter
3 generous spoonfuls of flour
Thyme
Herbes de Provence (thyme, marjoram, oregano, parsley)
Bay leaf
Salt
Black pepper
Preparation
- Divide rabbit at joints, into as many pieces as is easy, or until each piece looks like one serving
- In a cast iron skillet, melt butter and lard. Fry the pieces of rabbit, a few at a time, and set aside in a bowl. Cook each piece for a long time, really go for brown. The longer it's cooked, the better the meat will be later on
- Start to simmer shallots or onions in the remaining fat in the cast iron skillet, if there isn't enough fat, add more butter or lard
- Exactly like a bechamel sauce, add flour until you get a sort of paste. Dilute this slowly with red wine. Season with thyme, Herbes de Provence, salt, and black pepper. Tuck the bay leaf into the skillet
- Return rabbit pieces to wine sauce in cast iron skillet. The liquid should just about cover the rabbit pieces; adjust sauce by thickening or thinning further if necessary
- Simmer/stew for at least 60 minutes. Check to make sure rabbit is tender. If not keeping cooking until it is
- Serve with good bread
Tips
Drink the rest of the bottle of wine while the rabbit cooks :)
Last Modified: 2025-08-30