smoked rabbit

[magicdave 0]

I recently built a very versatile smoker from a barrel stove kit that has the secondary top barrel. I used a barrel with a removable lid for the top barrel. I adapted a hinge for the door (lid) built some rack from angle iron and made a few other changes to prevent a run away fire from grease leaking into the bottom barrel. Controlling the heat is very easy since the Vogelzang kit has a built in damper on the cast iron flue collar. I smoke my rabbit at a slightly lower than normal temp and for a very long time with a large water pan that get refilled twice. At the end I increase the rate of "hot" smoke to get a nice mahogany color. I do make much more rabbit sausage than smoked whole rabbit. Hind quarters smoke well whole too. I do not use cotton tails though because I raise meat rabbits. I do use my smoker for my venison too. That comes from the woods. I prefer wild venison to farmed but when it comes to rabbits nothing beats eat Giant Chinchilla Rabbit that have been eating Timothy hay for a week or so before slaughter. Rabbit liver makes excellent sausage too. I also have a good size flock of chickens that are protected from predators as well as possible but are pretty much wild. I give them a little scratch but if it isn't winter they get their food from picking through the pasture. That's where I get the fat to add to my sausage. I don't have enough room to raise a pig so chickens and rabbits is how I grow my own food and harvest the rest "in the woods." With a little common sense and some ingenuity you can build a very large capacity smoker for much less than a commercial unit.

Peace!