Camp-Fried Rabbit
Wild rabbit soaked in reconstituted buttermilk, dredged in seasoned flour, fried in a skillet over the fire.
- calories
- 560
- weight
- 9 oz
- cal / oz
- 62
- protein
- 42 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 40 min
- water
- 480 ml cold
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Nut free
- Real dishes
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Rabbit | 2 whole, cut into 10 pieces | four legs and a saddle section per animal |
|---|---|---|
| Buttermilk powder | 3/4 cup | reconstitutes to about 2 cups |
| Cold water | 2 cups | for the buttermilk |
| Hot sauce | 1/4 cup | |
| All-purpose flour | 2 cups | |
| Seasoned salt | 1 tbsp | Lawry's or equivalent |
| Kosher salt | 2 tsp | half for the meat, half for the dredge |
| Ground black pepper | 2 tsp | split the same way |
| Garlic powder | 1 tbsp | |
| Paprika | 1 tbsp | |
| Cooking oil | 1 cup | vegetable or olive, enough for a shallow fry |
Method
- At the truck or in camp, whisk the buttermilk powder into 2 cups of cold water until no lumps remain. Stir in the hot sauce.
- Salt and pepper the rabbit pieces, drop them in the buttermilk, and seal the bag. Four hours in the cooler is the minimum, eight is better. Do this the morning of.
- Build the fire early and let it burn down. You want a bed of coals under a grill grate, not flames.
- Shake the flour, seasoned salt, remaining salt and pepper, garlic powder, and paprika together in a second bag.
- Lift each piece out, let the marinade run off for a few seconds, then shake it in the flour bag until it is coated everywhere.
- Heat about a half inch of oil in a cast iron skillet on the grate. Flick in a pinch of flour; it should sizzle right away.
- Fry in batches. Pieces that touch steam each other and the crust goes soft. Six to eight minutes a side, turning once.
- Legs are done at 165F at the bone. The saddle cooks faster, so pull it first. Rest the pieces on a plate, not stacked.
Rabbit is lean enough to go dry and tough if you just throw it on the grate. The buttermilk soak fixes both problems: the acid loosens up the connective tissue in the legs, and the coating that dries onto the meat afterward holds the crust on through the fry. Powdered buttermilk is the only version of this that makes sense away from a kitchen, and it reconstitutes well enough that nobody will know.
The original is an air fryer recipe. Over coals you are shallow-frying instead, which means the oil temperature is your job, not a machine’s. Keep the skillet on a steady coal bed rather than open flame, work in batches, and give the pieces room. Crowding is what turns fried rabbit into steamed rabbit with a wet jacket on.
Packing
Mix the dredge at home and carry it in a quart freezer bag. Buttermilk powder, hot sauce, and oil ride in the food bin. The rabbit stays in the cooler on ice, in the marinade bag, from the moment you butcher it.
Variations
- No rabbit? The same dredge and timing work on squirrel, though the pieces are smaller and cook in about half the time.
- Pour off most of the oil and make gravy in the skillet with 3 tbsp of the leftover dredge and a cup of reconstituted buttermilk.
- At home, the same coating goes into an air fryer at 380F for 12 minutes, sprayed with oil on both sides.
https://realtree.com/timber-2-table-wild-game-recipes/crispy-air-fryer-rabbit