I butchered about a dozen of our meat rabbits over the weekend, and decided to do a batch of jerky with the belly meat. Rabbits have a thin layer of belly meat (about 1/4" thick), which is perfectly good meat, it's just awkward as heck to cook if you leave it on the loin or shoulder-- since it's so thin, it drastically overcooks before the rest of the meat is finished.
I've heard that others trim it off and toss it, or use it in stews, etc, but we've found it makes pretty darn good jerky.
It's a nice consistent thickness, so you just have to cut it up into strips. There's not a lot of fat to trim, so it's a pretty quick job.
Made up a marinade of brown sugar, soy sauce, a few healthy splashes of Worcestershire sauce, and a few big squeezes of Sriracha.
I let it marinate in the fridge for a couple of days, and it took on some nice color.
Next up, onto the MAK for some smoke!
James and Bayou were very willing taste testers to see how long we wanted to smoke the strips
James couldn't contain his excitement over having such a good gig. Bayou is obviously more interested in more samples than in cuddles.
About two hours later, voila! One big tasty plate of bunny bacon!
It's always a different texture than beef jerky, but I should have paid more attention to the grain of the muscle when I was slicing-- some turned out just great, but others were too chewy with the direction I cut the strips.
Very tasty balance of heat and sweetness, I'm glad I used the Sriracha!
