This rabbit boudin recipe is a delicious way for us homesteaders and rabbit breeders to use up rabbit meat. Transform your rabbit meat into something extra special!
What is Boudin?
Boudin is a Cajun sausage (it also has roots along the Gulf Coast and in the Caribbean) that includes meat, vegetables, rice, and spices in it. There are infinite variations, so my recipe is just my own version. Boudin has a paste-like consistency. This might sound strange to those who are used to bratwurst or other mostly-meat sausages, but trust me, boudin is delicious. Cajun food always is! Boudin can be found at many Louisiana restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, and food trucks.
History of Boudin in Louisiana
Boudin is one of those foods that has a lot of possible variations. All variations of boudin are made by stuffing hog casings with various finely chopped foods, with an emphasis on frugality and making use of as many parts of a slaughtered animal as possible. Cajuns used whatever meat they had, including crawfish, pork, waterfowl, rabbit, etc. Organ meats such as liver were used. Cajuns grew rice and vegetables as well, and used all of these available ingredients to create a style of sausage based on other sausages they had been making in Canada and France in past generations.
Rabbit Boudin
Although I’m not a meat rabbit farmer, the angora rabbits I breed for show and fiber occasionally do not make the cut to stay in my small rabbitry, and also would not make good pets. I have the opportunity to feed my family using these rabbits, and I’m happy to do so. Making rabbit boudin is fun and resourceful, and is an especially delicious way to utilize less tender meat from older rabbits, although meat from young rabbits works just as well.
My Favorite Inexpensive Meat Grinder
When I decided I needed a meat grinder a few years ago, I was a bit dismayed to find that most people online were suggesting expensive, powerful meat grinders that I couldn’t afford at the moment. But after searching on Amazon, I found a very affordable meat grinder with great reviews, and I decided to try it. Since I only use it a few times a year, buying a heavy duty grinder isn’t really necessary. This is the grinder I bought. It works perfectly. I’ve ground soft mushy boudin, as well as nearly-frozen 2 inch chunks of venison, pork, and lard. It can handle all of it without struggling. I’m so happy with it, and want to share it with you in case you’re in the same boat I was.
Rabbit Boudin Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 pounds of deboned rabbit meat, including fat and liver
- 1/2 pound of pork fat
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 2 poblano or green bell peppers, chopped
- 1 bay leaf
- 6 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 3+ tablespoons Cajun seasoning (you can taste and add more seasoning after cooking)
- 2 cups cooked and cooled white rice
- 1/3 cup dried parsley, or 1 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 cup green onions, chopped
- hog casings (buy on Amazon here)
Equipment
Instructions
Cook the Filling
- Roughly chop meat and pork fat into chunks
- Add everything except the cooked rice to a large stock pot.
- Add water to cover the ingredients by 2 inches.
- Heat to a simmer on the stove. Simmer for 30 minutes to a few hours, until the veggies are very soft and the meat is fully cooked.
- Use a skimmer to strain all the solids out onto a sheet pan, and put in the fridge to cool. Save the liquid for later.
Rinse the Hog Casings
- If using hog casings, soak the casings in a bowl of water for one hour. Then flush the casings, inside and out, with running water. Most hot casings have instructions for this process on the packaging.
Add the Rice
- When cool enough to handle, add the meat and veggie mixture and the cooked rice to the large bowl. Add up to 4 cups of the reserved cooking liquid and mix well in order to make a thick, chunky paste.
Stuff the Casings
- To make links, set up your meat grinder with the sausage attachment.
- I recommend grinding a little bit of your mixture without a casing, tasting it, and adding additional seasoning now, if desired.
- Tie a knot in one end of a hot casing. Stretch the other end over the grinder tip, then scrunch the entire casing onto the tip, except for the last 4 inches.
- Add the boudin mixture to the grinder and use your hand to hold the casing as it fills the casing. This takes some practice! If you let the casing slip through your fingers too soon, it might not be stuffed enough. If you hold it back to long, it will burst. I usually burst a couple links because I’m really not an expert. But the boudin still tastes delicious. We use the burst links for dinner that night.
- When the casing is almost full, tie the other end into a knot. Twist the sausage into links. You will need to twist one link clockwise, then the next link counterclockwise, in order to prevent the twists from untwisting as you go (see video.) When your links are formed, cut the links with kitchen shears.
Enjoy Your Finished Rabbit Boudin!
- Your boudin is finished! Boudin can be prepared for eating by poaching/boiling in water until heated through. It can also be baked, grilled, or smoked. The sausage is already fully cooked, so you just need to reheat.
- To eat boudin, most people squeeze the filling out of the casing onto a saltine cracker, and eat it that way. It also goes well with rice or jambalaya. The casing is typically not eaten.
- If you don’t want to make links, you can forego the hog casing and make boudin balls. These are made by simply rolling the boudin filling into 1 1/2 inch balls, breading them, and frying them. Delicious!
- Boudin doesn’t keep for long in the fridge, but it does freeze well. Place links in a single layer in freezer bags, label, and freeze.
Rabbit Boudin
Equipment
- Meat Grinder with Sausage Attachment
- large stock pot
- Skimmer Spoon
Ingredients
- 2 pounds of deboned rabbit meat including fat and liver
- 1/2 pound of pork fat
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 celery stalks chopped
- 2 poblano or green bell peppers chopped
- 1 bay leaf
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 3 + tablespoons Cajun seasoning you can taste and add more seasoning after cooking
- 2 cups cooked and cooled white rice
- 1/3 cup dried parsley or 1 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 cup green onions chopped
- hog casings
Instructions
- Roughly chop meat and pork fat into chunks
- Add everything except the cooked rice to a large stock pot.
- Add water to cover the ingredients by 2 inches.
- Heat to a simmer on the stove. Simmer for 30 minutes to a few hours, until the veggies are very soft and the meat is fully cooked.
- Use a skimmer to strain all the solids out onto a sheet pan, and put in the fridge to cool. Save the liquid for later.
- If using hog casings, soak the casings in a bowl of water for one hour. Then flush the casings, inside and out, with running water. Most hot casings have instructions for this process on the packaging.
- When cool enough to handle, add the meat and veggie mixture and the cooked rice to the large bowl. Remove the bay leaf. Add up to 4 cups of the reserved cooking liquid and mix well in order to make a thick, chunky paste.
- To make links, set up your meat grinder with the sausage attachment.
- I recommend grinding a little bit of your mixture without a casing, tasting it, and adding additional seasoning now, if desired.
- Tie a knot in one end of a hot casing. Stretch the other end over the grinder tip, then scrunch the entire casing onto the tip, except for the last 4 inches.
- Add the boudin mixture to the grinder and use your hand to hold the casing as it fills up. This is hard to describe and takes some practice! If you let the casing slip through your fingers too soon, it might not be stuffed enough. If you hold it back to long, it will burst. Watch the video for a better description. I usually burst a couple links because I'm really not an expert. But the boudin still tastes delicious. We use the burst links for dinner that night.
- When the casing is almost full, tie the other end into a knot. Twist the sausage into links. You will need to twist one link clockwise (both ends) then the next link counterclockwise, in order to prevent the twists from untwisting as you go (see video.) When your links are formed, cut the links apart at the twists with kitchen shears.
- Your boudin is finished! Boudin can be prepared for eating by poaching/boiling in water until heated through. It can also be baked, grilled, or smoked. The sausage is already fully cooked, so you just need to reheat.
- To eat boudin, most people squeeze the filling out of the casing onto a saltine cracker, and eat it that way. It also goes well on rice or jambalaya. The casing is typically not eaten.
- If you don’t want to make links, you can forego the hog casing and make boudin balls. These are made by simply rolling the boudin filling into 1 1/2 inch balls, breading them, and frying them. Delicious!
- Boudin doesn’t keep for long in the fridge, but it does freeze well. Place links in a single layer in freezer bags, label, and freeze.
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