A few technical difficulties in this week’s show, but nothing to worry about. . . .
Join the Podchef as he makes a Hearty Winter, warming dish of Lamb Shoulder and Cauliflower.
Also we talk about:
No Proof Organics is Better
RAFT–Renewing Americas Food Traditions–Gastronomic & Biodiversity
And what’s been going on at the Forum
Stay subscribed to find out the big news about some new changes coming soon . . .
Our Sponsor this week–The Kitchen Garden Company
Technorati Tags: gastrocast, podchef, lamb, cooking show, braise, stew, dinner, winter, seasonal, cooking, food
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Neil,
Did I hear you right? 7 to 10lbs butchered weight for a rabbit? Normally in the US rabbits are butchered between 5.0 to 5.5lbs which gives you a fryer around 3lbs. Mature live weight for a Cali/NZW is 10-12lbs so even a stewer won’t be much over 6lbs.
The picture on amazon is raw rabbit exactly the way it looks. Is that bad? It’s what you’re going to get. Shipping is easy you use a foam box with dry ice (co2) and either priority post or overnight.
This is against what you stand for? But you then go off about must eat what you want to preserve. The meat rabbit industry isn’t doing well in the US. If someone wants to spend $30 on rabbit to try it why not? They might just buy it at their local butcher the next time they see it.
Andrew, thanks for commenting.
I mis-spoke–I was thinking of live weight rabbits for some reason when I said the 7-10 lbs. I used to buy them locally at around $10 for a 5# rabbit.
I well know exactly what raw, skinned rabbit looks like–however the crappy amazon photo makes it look like a foetus. If they’re trying to sell the thing to people who might want to plunk down $30 to try a rabbit then they had better re-think their marketing photos.
I fully understand the process of shipping and how it takes place. Have even recieved food in the mail. However, my point is that it is WRONG!
A $40 rabbit does not make sense. Not to the consumer, not to the farmer who might not have even made $4, and not to the environment in terms of packaging, fuel, refridgeration expense, storage, the list goes on.
Yes–eat what you want to preserve. But find a local way of doing it. Some one who is preserving and raising heritage breeds to maintain biodiversity–no a mass-market run-of the mill albino bunny fryer. If every one just bought rabbit or anything else from Amazon, or Nutrina, or ???, then how would a local butcher, or farmer ever sell any rabbits?
Wouldn’t it be better for a local butcher to market local rabbit and make money for themselves and money for the local farmer and each get a piece of, say, $20 rather than pennies of $40?
And as for the US Rabbit industry–everyone seems to be buying from Cloverdale but there is scant information on the web about them other than this:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/04/04/18131131.php
which is none to flattering. If that is what a $40.40 Amazon Rabbit is supporting then no thanks. I’ll stick to sourcing my farmed and wild rabbit locally and cut out the middle man.
This is an interesting fact to think about in that article–8 million rabbits rasied by 200,000 producers around the country. Those sound like pretty good statistics until you realize that’s only 40 rabbits each producer. No wonder the rabbit industry is doing so poorly. How many of those are eaten in the US and how many of those are sold locally?
Definitely food for thought.
Thanks for listening to the show and stopping in.
Okay, so on the rabbit size–we’re both sort of wrong. . .if this is to be believed than there really is a giant rabbit breed the size of a dog feeding 8 people: http://www.tobeasian.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=465&Itemid=26
photos are taken from odd angles to it’s hard to be sure, but looks tastey. Wonder what Amazon would charge to ship one of those?
Is this blog the (Stay subscribed to find out the big news about some new changes coming soon . . .)?
Big Ed
Big Ed, all is revealed in Gastrocast #93. . . .this blog is part of the re-vamp.
The main part, though is The Kitchen Garden Network site, http://kitchengardens.net That site is the one address you need to remember to be able to access all the other sites.
Let me know what you think!
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