Baked Rabbit Stew! (My favorite meal of all time!)

hey everybody hunter Fisher trapper trader guide scout and interpreter and just a country cook Steve Hall here in Nashville Tennessee flying solo today because Sheila's down in Red Bay Alabama or they're probably over in Russellville or someplace else Muscle Shoals or whatever doing some Christmas shopping once those two girls get together this time of year they can be dangerous coming home with all their little goodies but they're getting a lot of stocking stuffers and they shop for sales and they're really good at it but I love you girls I hope you're having fun but when you're gone I get to do a recipe that I like I grew up in Iowa and we used to shoot about a hundred cotton tails every fall my grandma would Khanum put we get the front legs and maybe the back legs for dinner but that back strap would go in a canning jar and then we ate them all summer because she'd can't a whole bunch in the fall if you come on over here I'm going to show your recipe there's a lot of money Internet there's all kinds of recipes all the big chefs do it and they make rabbit fricassee and all kinds of stuff but I'm going to show you how to make a rabbit stew that'll melt in your mouth man I just absolutely love it now the Kroger's over here by Bass Pro Shop here in Nashville Tennessee doesn't always have it in stock but they'll order it for me they order a case at a time i buy about half the case about 6 a minute there's 12 boxes in a case they put the other six in their freezer section and they're gone like in two weeks I don't know why they don't carry it full time but I guess they don't sell enough of it to have it on hand all the time but they will order it for you you might have to check with your butcher you might even have to go to a private drawer but I got a rabbit here and I want to show you how I cut it up and how I prep it and it's gonna be the most delicious Fall Apart melt-in-your-mouth rabbit stew you ever ate come on over let's get started all right I got my new wave to cooktop going over here and I got a cast-iron pan I'm gonna put about a half inch of vegetable oil in there why that's heating up let me explain a few things here first and foremost this belly flap that's on these rabbits don't throw that away that is some of the most flavorful meet on the rabbit I know a lot of people a lot of them chefs on TV they trim it off and they throw it away but I'm gonna fry it up I'm gonna cut it in about four little pieces this is gonna make that stew so good and I just kind of dig around in my bowl and I hope that when I dish it up that I get a piece of this belly flap because it's so so delicious now if you try to cut up a rabbit with a knife you got to kind of chop it and break it and do it a different thing a few different things but here's the thing if you'll use some poultry shears man you can just cut that down the middle and before I cut this off I want to show you something these front legs are just like legs on a deer if you find that little place see that little shoulder blade so to speak if you just cut under that it's not connected at all they're same thing with a full-sized deer you can cut the front legs find that little shoulder blade up there cut underneath there and it just there's nothing attaching it to other words there's no bone attaching it here so it's the easiest thing in the world to remove the front legs now I'm gonna take this rabbit and the best part of this back strap kind of quits right here so I'm just gonna cut this off this is the easiest way is with these poultry shears man that just cuts so good then I'm gonna break this open just like that and I'm gonna do the same thing I'm just gonna cut just slightly off to one side so I've got a couple of flat chunks to fry and I'm keeping all these pieces because I want this with bones and everything in it in my soup so I can pick it apart while I'm eating it trust me on this same thing with back here I'm just gonna cut straight across right in front of the hind legs with my poultry shears there we go then I'm also gonna cut see here's the big delicious backstraps right here I'm also gonna cut this chunk in half and fry it up alright now I cut the hind legs off but I'm keeping this little chunk that was in the middle because I want to fry up every part of this rabbit what I'm gonna do is take these pieces and put them in my little bowl here that has about a quarter of a cup of water in the bottom move my cutting board all the way Sheila I need help and in here I have shotgun Reds catfish and crappie breading mix now that's what I love to cook it in but if you haven't ordered it from us yet at shotgun red.com or you're not gonna order it at all at least use seasoned flour on here 2 cups of flour 1 teaspoon of these four things salt pepper onion powder garlic powder not garlic salt with the powders but I'm gonna roll this rabbit in our shock and rinse catfish and crappie breading mix because that stuff does not come off of there I'm going to take a little pinch and see how hotter oils getting over they're getting pretty good you see if I can find a little a little Bowl here well forget the bowl I went with a platter instead and I'm taking these pieces of rabbit and kind of pushing them down here against this water then shaking off the excess and then putting it in this fish breading which is the best reading on the planet I'm telling you see how we're looking over here we're getting pretty close should throw a thermometer in there fact that's what I'm gonna do let me see what this oil is up here I'm gonna keep reading up all of our rabbit pieces and we're gonna fry this up nice and golden-brown then we're gonna put it in a Dutch oven with a few other ingredients and we're gonna put it in the oven at 205 degrees that way I know it's not boiling in there and I'm gonna leave it in there five six hours some chicken broth some cream of mushroom soup that kind of thing let me get this all seasoned up you're right back with you and last but not least these little belly flap chunks don't throw them away they have got to get fried let me reposition the camera she was not here so we can fry this up all right our oil just hit 350 I'm gonna actually turn it down just a little bit here is and little belly flap chunks they're going in first don't throw them way my Uncle Bob used to tell me there is nothing on the planet more delicious than when you fry rabbit you know skillet probably not with this much as I'm kind of deep-frying it here a little bit of oil like you with fried chicken he says and then after you take it out with all them drippings and all that stuff make gravy for your potatoes out of those Cottontail drippings from up here in Iowa he said you have not lived and he ain't kidding either all right she was not here to get a hold of camera shots but I'm gonna take a potato this is my idea and I'm gonna slice this potato off and little slices about that thick and then I'm gonna lay them on the bottom of my Dutch oven I just do that I don't know why because I keep thinking that something's gonna burn on the bottom when it's sitting in the oven so if anything burns I want it to be those potatoes but I normally ask can you see this Sheila but I have employed gift I just want to put a layer in there so that rabbit has something to rest on they should just put a rack in there or something but I've always did that I've always just sliced up a potato and put it down in there now normally I'd drain these on a paper towel but I want that little bit of oil in there there we go time to turn a couple of these pieces and remember they don't have to be done all the way through we're just putting a nice golden brown on the outside and you notice the oil doesn't have any fish breading in it there's our fish breading sticks to whatever you cook it on alright you get these brown here back see if I can sneak another piece in there - maybe this leg right here okay this guy here is ready you came over there this one here too and again we're not looking to have it cooked all the way through I see so many recipes on the internet where they fry the rabbit then they sit down and try to rip the meat off the bone and that's not the way to do it I'm gonna show you the way to make this so delicious alright three more pieces let me get the rest when I rabbit in here if these nice and golden-brown see you in a few minutes time to give these babies a turn oh yeah do that I'm telling you what took me and Sheila over two years of development with a Doug Jeffers company seasonings taught me to get everything just right I'm telling you what the flavors are fantastic again though you can use just seasoned flour just get a nice golden brown on these rabbit pieces all right let me get them golden brown on the other side then I'm gonna move them over to my Dutch oven see in another couple of minutes I hate to run off but I got to go be back nice and golden brown on both sides at its time move them over here that beautiful Wow [Applause] that's something my favorite cut from the whole rabbit takes a little belly flap that they throw away that's fun let me turn this off here now what I'm gonna do in this bowl I'm gonna move this out of the way as soon as it cools down a little bit then I'm gonna show you what we're gonna put in this Dutch oven before we put it in the big oven see in another minute or so I actually kind of forgot even though this has got a porcelain coating on it it's metal inside so this cooker will work here it's simmering in there so I want to get to work I got two cans of Campbell's cream of mushroom soup in here and I'm gonna put in one box of chicken broth you pour a little in here to calm it down a little bit there you go we get so huffy on me and also in here I'm gonna put in a half a stick of butter I melted it earlier but it's kind of cooled off what we're gonna do with this just pour these two cans of cream of mushroom soup and one box of chicken broth over the top of our rabbit wait'll you try this it's just gonna wig you out I'm gonna do at this point is I want to dump that in to kind of get a measurement cuz I'm gonna come back with some vegetables a little bit later so I'm gonna put in some more just enough to cover this right there just enough to cover that meat and I'll tell you what we're gonna do we're gonna put this in the oven first of all I'm gonna bring this to a simmer on this induction cooktop to get this up to temperature then I'm going to set my oven in the kitchen at 205 degrees that's my little magic number and make sure that it doesn't boil and I'm gonna let it sit in there with the lid on for three to four to five hours it's Sunday football games are on I'm just gonna go in and relax and I'll check it and when I do I'll come back and give you a heads up I really don't want to leave it on this induction cooktop simmering because whether you do it on the stove or here I am NOT gonna burn this rabbit and the way to stop from burning your stews is bake them in the oven so let me get this to a simmer and I'll see in a minute can you see this Sheila doesn't this look fantastic getting ready to slap the lid on it and put it in the oven I just went in set the oven on seven hours at 205 degrees that's right you really can't overcook this stuff believe it or not you don't know how bad right now I want to put in these little petite potatoes these onions this garlic these carrots these mushrooms these stir-fry veggies which is all kinds of it's onions and green and red and yellow bell peppers I don't have to slice up nothing I'm just gonna dump this whole bag right in there after this gets tender oh it's starting to do its thing starting to bubble I don't want it to boil so I'm going to turn it off and the reason I don't want to boil is because cream of mushroom soup has milk in it and I don't want it to curdle so I wanted to stop at two hundred and five degrees I'll go ahead and put a lid on it now oh I hate to cover this up you want to smell this this is the this smells more fantastic meal in the entire world is rabbit stew cooked on the bone like this it's just fantastic let me cover this up I'm gonna put this in the oven at 205 degrees and then we're going to put all these veggies in about an hour before it's ready to be served and we're also going to pour in some half-and-half to thicken it up a little bit maybe a little heavy whipping cream I have to see what I got in the refrigerator but man it's gonna be great let's take this to the oven and I'll see you guys in three four maybe five hours probably about three hours because you know me I can't stand it we'll see you then well it's been three and a half hours and look at this man I cannot stand it I tell you this half-and-half I took out of the refrigerator about an hour ago to let it kind of come to room temperature and then I heated it up real slow on the stove to about a hundred and fifty degrees that way it won't curdle when I add it to our baked rabbit perfect in goes the garlic heaping tablespoon of garlic don't be shy on this recipe mushrooms they'll shrink down so we're gonna put in at least two cups let me go ahead and stir this around a little bit sure is quiet in here without Sheila helping me out ain't that right Sheila well no answer she's down on her mom's but I hope those girls are having fun I'm still fighting a little bit of a sore throat so if I sound a little hoarse here's what it is I got one nice big sweet onion chopped up kind of oaky style I didn't really dice it man I'm gonna turn this on to kind of bring it back up to temperature there's the rest of those mushrooms and just for color but some carrots in what rabbit stew doesn't have carrots took about three carrots and I shredded them on the outside or peel them with my potato peeler and then I cut them up in nice little chunks now that I got all my little veggies in here it's time to throw in a few taters I got my little golden petite potatoes I love these things Sheila's here I'd say she lining Bowl I need a knife to cut these potatoes up she's not here so it's gonna have to kind of wing it I'm not gonna put in lots of potatoes cuz I just don't care for a lot of potatoes in anything but that's up to you you make the recipe your own and I'm gonna cut these guys so that they'll get get done kind of with the rest of the veggies I'm cutting them in four chunks gotten it lengthwise like that then I'm cutting it sideways like that so it breaks into four little pieces I'll put a few of these in here and if Sheila was here she'd say don't forget the peppers in that bag because I just looked down and seeing they weren't there what I'm also going to do is I'm going to put about a half a teaspoon of salt and about a teaspoon of pepper in here for seasoning then you can always salt and pepper to taste after that I wish I could shake this cold wanting to hang on longer and it needs to that's probably pretty good on the taters you got about ten of them in there that one don't need to go in that little piece of Route on the side there and here's our bag of peppers let me go ahead and open this out hope this is all in camera here and this is green and red and yellow bell peppers thought out frozen from the store raked them in there and try to leave some of that liquid in the bottom because as they thought in the bag they left little juice in the bottom there there we go didn't have to peel any of that stuff let's kind of stir it around looky here looky here right to the top perfect you pop the lid back on this once it starts to simmer I'm gonna pop the lid back on put it back in the oven for about another hour we'll see you then alright it's coming back to a simmer and I always like to stick this little temperature probe in there to make sure that it don't get anywhere near 212 degrees obviously yeah see it's coming up on a hundred and seventy degrees already which is plenty good starting to foam up there simmer just a little bit so I'll give it one more little kind of a dunk at a dumpster you have no idea how delicious this dish is put the lid on here back to the oven 205 degrees so it doesn't boil and curdle our half-and-half and I'll see you in about an hour well it's been another power looky here I can't stand it man just wonderful here's the thing I don't know whether to eat this with a fork or a spoon first thing I'm gonna do is get me a little back strap out of there I wish I could find a piece of that little belly flap maybe another Pizza back strap would do just fine can you see this Sheila man you can tell it's getting right with the world and most of the mushrooms are sinking veggies are done this my friends is pure heaven let me move this over to the side Sheila's not here so I don't know if it's still in the shot I think it is I kind of framed it up over here but here's what I like you can actually take all the pieces of rabbit out of here and peel all the meat off shred it all up and put it back in there if you want or you can just eat it with a little chunk in your bowl like this look at that it's so tender that it just falls right off let me get a little piece of backstrap here look at that man that is so we have three look at that we have 300 recipes and if I had to pick one recipe as my final meal it would be this rabbit stew it is so good all these little pieces of meat that you peel off as you're kind of eating then you get a little little gravy this is pure heaven you have got to make yourself a batch of this because it's just out of this world Wow I could go on and on about this but I'm not gonna I'm gonna leave it up to you go get yourself some rabbit cut it up fry it in seasoned flour or shotgun Reds catfish and crappie breading mix put it down in there put all those goodies in there put it in the oven at 205 degrees for about three and a half hours then pour all your veggies in let it set another hour it's the most delicious tasting stew you've ever ate in your entire life I really don't know how to describe these little shreds of meat that you can pull off of here and then when this gets down to where I can't get no more with a fork now I'm gonna pick it up like a little pizza or a corn and just nibble nibble nibble that meat right off the bone that's just you got to make yourself some I hope you enjoy this recipe and we really hope you subscribe to our channel little shotgun der it's Faizal pop up over here a little bit when it does click on it next to subscribe if you click on that bell you'll be notified every time we come out with another recipe I don't know how we're gonna top this cuz this is the best of the best Sheila you should be here because this is out standing I'll put some other recipes up over here in a little playlist that pops up but is this the most absolute delicious rabbit stew you ever made in your entire life yes it is but if it ain't it ought to be mmm that is buttery the veggies are all tender it's fall off the bone delicious we hope you try our recipes and we'll see you next time right here on cooking with shotgun Red say good night Sheila I can hear you down there in Red Bay Alabama hope your girls are having a lot of fun cuz I'm gonna sit down and watch the late game today with a nice Bowl no - nice bowls of rabbit stew give it a try your love it see you next time bye-bye

Channel: Cooking with Shotgun Red

Views: 139,618

Rating: 4.8608694 out of 5

Keywords: Baked Rabbit, Rabbit Stew, rabbit recipe, Shotgun Red, Shotgunred, Rabbit, stew, wild game cooking, wild game, rabbit recipes, how to cook rabbit, rabbit stew recipe, steve Hall

Id: WFvDr-XddpE

Length: 27min 42sec (1662 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 27 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/JTempl]

I really enjoyed his cooking videos. Noticed none were posted for a couple months, so I googled it. Found out he passed away on 12/28/18. In this video, his last, he talks about this being his favorite dish, and if he had a last meal request, this would be it.

[u/dimaswonder]

Towards the end of this video, he says, "If I could pick one dish for my final meal, it would be this."

Great guy. America at its best. R.I.P.

[u/Luingalls]

"We have three hundred recipes, and if i had to pick one for my final meal it's be this rabbit stew". Whoa. It was his final meal.

[u/htxDTAposse]

Damn would have loved to have tried this mans cooking. RIP.

[u/TinkerPercept]

Damn, that's sad. Dangers of morbid obesity.