Judy Putnam: Rabbit hops to dinner table

LANSING – It's hard to write about putting rabbits on your dinner plate without indulging in a few puns so I'll just get it over with: The idea of eating an animal with long floppy ears that's kept as a pet makes me want to wrinkle my nose but others are hopping on the trend.

Just ask Eaton Rapids' Bill Russell, owner of Water Crest Rabbitry. About three years ago he shifted from raising cattle to breeding rabbits. He now supplies packaged, frozen rabbits to Horrock's in Lansing and Mert's Specialty Meats in Lansing and Okemos and four grocery stores in the Jackson area. He also supplies Red Haven, an Okemos farm-to-table restaurant and Gracie's in Williamston.

Russell said rabbit has long been on the dinner menu but its popularity waned after World War II then recently began to resurge. He says he has more demand than he can keep up with and that young, health-conscious families are among the newest fans of the meat.

"Domestic rabbit meat is all white meat. Of the five major meats (beef, pork, chicken, turkey and rabbit), it's the highest in protein, lowest in fat, highest in nutrients, lowest in cholesterol," Russell said.

Prevention Magazine ran a graphic early this year titled "Is Rabbit the New White Meat?" It extolled the virtues of the meat in its "Eat Clean" section. It piqued my interest.

Then I saw rabbit listed on the offerings at the DeWitt Farmers Market, which opens June 2. Christine Miller of Spartan Country Meats in Webberville has been offering rabbit for about four years along with locally raised chicken, pork, turkey, ducks and eggs. Rabbit is not a big part of her business, but interest is growing, she said. She also sells at farmer markets in East Lansing, Meridian Township and Bath.

"I have a lot more people who are definitely more open to trying it," she said.

Is there a trend? It appears so.

Shirley Decker, co-owner of Mert's, said rabbit is growing in popularity but remains a small part of her business, which opened in Okemos four years ago with a second store in Lansing last year. She said she sold rabbit from China before finding Water Crest Rabbitry in Eaton Rapids.

"It's lean. It's very easy to cook. It can be cooked just like chicken or other poultry items. You can grill it. You can braise it," Decker said. Years ago, she added, her brother would fry it like chicken.

Mary Stucko, an Okemos Farm Bureau Insurance agent with a family farm in Hubbardston, said her son Matthew, 13, has been raising rabbits as part of 4-H. She said they eat rabbit on sandwiches with barbeque sauce like pulled pork.

"It's one of the healthiest meats to eat and very low cost to raise," she said. Stucko sells chicken and duck eggs from her farm but doesn't sell rabbit meat.

The idea of eating Peter Rabbit or Bugs Bunny does make me squeamish, despite three decades of eating game. My husband, the hunter and frequent cook, has made wild rabbit in the crock pot and put the meat in casseroles. He jokes about the time I tried it unaware it was rabbit and said: "Where'd you get the chicken?''

Twenty-three years ago filmmaker Michael Moore used the rabbit dilemma in "Pets or Meat: The Return to Flint," a follow to "Roger and Me." It featured the type of jobs available in the wake of the economic collapse of his hometown when General Motors Co. closed plants. Raising rabbits to stay out of poverty was among them but the job now seems more trendy and upscale.

I'm inconsistent on this subject. I got over my qualms about eating dove, the international symbol of peace, the moment I tasted it marinated in Italian dressing, wrapped in bacon and grilled. (I still draw the line at squirrels and find sustenance elsewhere on the nights when squirrel pot pie is on the dinner menu at home.)

Let's face it. If you choose to eat meat, you have to accept the fact that these were once living animals, pet material or not.

Russell asked me: "Do you cook chicken? Any way you cook chicken, you can cook rabbit."

So I purchased a small rabbit from Mert's ($6.99 a pound) and put a whole rabbit, carrots, onions, a little red wine, bay and seasoning in a casserole dish and popped it into the oven.

It was my first domestic rabbit. The verdict? Delicious. And it tastes like chicken.

Judy Putnam is a columnist with the Lansing State Journal. Email her at jputnam@lsj.com, call 267-1304 or write to 120 E. Lenawee St., Lansing, MI 48919. You can also find her at www.facebook.com/ judyputnam and on Twitter @ JudyPutnam.