“I’m about to take off when I think of my snares. Maybe it’s imprudent to check them with the others so close. But I have to. Too many years of hunting, I guess. And the lure of possible meat. I’m rewarded with one fine rabbit. In no time, I’ve cleaned and gutted the animal, leaving the head, feet, tail, skin, and innards, under a pile of leaves. I’m wishing for a fire — eating raw rabbit can give you rabbit fever, a lesson I learned the hard way — when I think of the dead tribute. I hurry back to her camp. Sure enough, the coals of her dying fire are still hot. I cut up the rabbit, fashion a spit out of branches, and set it over the coals.”
–Katniss Everdeen, The Hunger Games
In this scene, Katniss has just learned that Peeta joined the Career pack and manages to use the fire that the girl from the previous night lit to stay warm. I took a photo of the rabbit in leaves from my avocado tree because I didn’t think roasted rabbit on a tarp would make for a great photo. Besides, when they cook other rabbits later in the games, I think they wrap them in leaves then. Something to note, avocado leaves make pretty good plates!
I had bought some meat at Costco to grill for a Game of Thrones dish and since hubby convinced me that starting a fire out of mango tree branches was a questionable practice, I decided to go back and look at the actual book text to see how her first rabbit roasting really went down. Imagine my delight when I realized that just hanging my rabbit over some coals would have all the authenticity I needed. I had thought that I needed an open fire!
Hubby had slaughtered our rabbits about a month ago and so this one was waiting in the freezer for quite some time until I had the motivation to finally do this. I defrosted it today and then cut it up with kitchen shears.
I admit I cheated a little and didn’t make a spit out of branches, mostly because I had no idea which branches the dog had slobbered all over and it seemed pretty gross to chance it. I tried metal skewers, but the legs kept swiveling around and I could only cook one side. Eventually, I held the rabbit legs over the grill with my tongs until one side was nicely golden brown, then just laid it on the grill to cook on the other side. Yes, I got lazy. I was holding each leg up for at least 10 minutes before it got this nice and crispy!
Just out of curiosity, I did not season these legs at all. I wanted to know what a piece of meat over a fire tastes like as-is, just like how Katniss had it and so after I dropped one leg in the grass, took the pictures, and gave the fallen leg to the dog, I took a bite of the other one. It was still hot and wow!! I couldn’t believe that a piece of meat with no seasoning could taste that good.
I mean, it wasn’t popping my taste buds or anything, but it was still pretty darned good just by itself. My daughter, a rather sad-for-the-bunnies girl, came over and took a small bite and then promptly snatched it from my hands and took it inside to eat for dinner. This was the fifth rabbit I’ve cooked and I have to say, grilling is the way to go. I was very pleased with the results I got with the rest of the rabbit, which I seasoned with a steak rub.
It’s possible that residual seasoning from the other pieces of meat I’d cooked before were still present and therefore seasoned the meat, but I did make a point to place the bottom side of the rabbit on a part of the grill that hadn’t really touched anything. I also made sure I bit the part that I had held over the fire myself, so who knows. I may have to try it again and cook the unseasoned rabbit first, but for now, I’d call this a tasty success!
(14 votes, average: 4.86 out of 5)
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[...] I’ve got more Hunger Games food for you all this week, this time tackling rabbit roasted over dying coals of a fire. Of course, one key difference is that my fire was started by my husband, who is not a tribute and is thankfully not dead from a pack of Careers. If you want to read more about it, head to Fictional Food. [...]
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This looks DELICIOUS!!! I’m surprised you got 4 recipes from the book, I’m rereading it for an essay, so I just got to the part where Peeta talks about different districts bread, have you considered doing the seaweed bread from 4, I LOVE seaweed and I would love to try it, but I lack the motivation to find a recipe.
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Hey MrCaspuff, there’s actually a TON of other stuff I can do. Remember, Katniss eats a lot while on the train and in the capitol!
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You killed your rabbits? ):
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We raise them for food, it was going to happen anyway..
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I respect you a lot for killing them for food… there are a lot of morons out there that kill them for fun.
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Thank you Sandra!
Hot debate. What do you think?
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When cooking over open heat you pretty much *always* cook over coal, not fire. Fire gets you the burnt on the outside, raw on the inside effect. Yuk.
Sounds nommy
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Thanks Cal, I can always depend on you to set me straight.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Yes I would love to see a bread post as well!! Seaweed bread from District 4 and the bread from District 11.
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I’ve been wanting to do the District 11 bread for some time, but I need to buy some poppy seeds online. One little McCormick bottle was a whopping 8 BUCKS at my market!!!
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[...] posted the roasted rabbit on Fictional Food and Mockingjay and several people said the sight of it made them feel like yakking. One person said [...]
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How bout you make squirrel
Hot debate. What do you think?
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I would, but we don’t have any in Hawaii.
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you could always order them:)
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Easier said than done when you have the ocean between you and the squirrels!
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Oh wow this just cracked me up! “An ocean between me and the squirrels” lol
I think this is great that you step out of the box to do these recipes! I never would have thought to try and make food from a novel i read! Just awesome!
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[...] Roasted rabbit – posted July 25, 2011 [...]
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these are great! I love them all especially the break recipes you are sharing.
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Thanks Rebecca!
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Me again! I really have to try the seaweed bread, District 4 is my district, after all!
This looks delicous, but I can’t find anywhere to get rabbit O.o Unless I went out and shot one, and I have such terrible aim I’d probably end up somehow shooting myself in the face, so I won’t be trying that.
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While you have every right to your opinion, Cindy, a lot of people used to eat rabbits all the time and some still do. Calling me a sick moron seems a bit uncalled for.
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yes calling you a sick moron was wrong on Cindy’s part. But ask your self this ”Would you eat your dog?”
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No, I would not eat my dog, but then, my dog is my pet. The rabbits we raise are for MEAT. They are not our “pets”.
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yes calling you a sick moron was wrong on Cindy’s part. But ask your self this ”Would you eat your dog?” Let me tell you something i wouldn’t eat my cat or rabbit
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It only seems fair to ask you if you are a vegetarian. Let’s say you’re not and you eat chicken. It’s okay for you to eat chicken as long as you didn’t raise it? You’d rather eat a chicken that was tortured and pumped full of hormones so that she could lay multiple eggs a day, barely stand, and can’t walk around because she’s in a cage with 25 other chickens than eat a chicken that you raised yourself in a nice green back yard, fed daily, and talked to? Go look up the conditions of chicken farms and tell me it’s better to eat farm raised animals than to eat animals you take good care of at your own home.
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No, it is definately not better to each those chickens. As a matter of fact i actually don’t need to look anything up. I already knew about chicken farms. It’s totally wrong to do that to animals. But i wasn’t commenting on whether you’r way was better or not.
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Lots of people eat rabbit i ate it first in Germany. my dad hunts wallaby and my husband likes kangaroo, does not mean you are a moron some of these animals were a staple diet in early years. ” also Im sure if it was rabbit or starve…… I love these recipes and intended on cooking every single one of them. yum to bad there is no wild dog!! ( just kidding)!!!!!!!
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Kimberly, just because YOU don’t eat rabbit, it doesn’t mean the rest of the world stopped doing it. We raise our rabbits for meat.
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Did you know that in Ecuador guinea pig is served onna stick? http://bit.ly/MEv1TE It’s food, not pets. Likewise, lots of people still do eat rabbit, all the time. What about chickens? Lots of people keep chickens, that doesn’t make chickens not-food.
Did you know people eat pig brains? Moose nose? Bull testes? It’s not subsistence-level eating, people actually really eat these foods.
Rabbit is delicious, btw, although very lean.
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I eat animals off of my grandpa and grandmas farm the chicken is great so is the cow meat! Have you ever tried cow tonge. DELLISH
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A great way of using metal skewers without it swivelling around is to insert two about a centimetre apart. That way you can have more control when you turn the meat around.
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so you used real rabbit . . . did it taste good?
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I live on a farm and we have raised pigs, chickens and even a cow for meat. We treat them very well and I am hoping to try rabbits. I love the simplicity of this recipe and hope to try it soon! Thanks!
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[...] Katniss’ style of eating is bound to be trendy after this year’s Games, serve them some Fire Roasted Rabbit with Ember-Baked Parsnips. I don’t have a recipe for the parsnips, but it’s not rocket [...]
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Will you make the district’s 13 stew of beans and onions?
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Kaitlyn, we raise these rabbits for meat and we do it because in the case of an economic collapse, it’s smart to have your own source of food. If Katniss was starving, would you criticize her killing a rabbit for her family just because it’s a bunny?
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U are right I am an animal lover so it is sad to think of animals dying but I eat chicken pork cow…I might think it is a little weird ant first but hey at least you ate it unlike some people who kill them for fun. I know katniss is a fictional carrector but she is my romodel! (Btw I saw the hunger games cake you made AMAZING!) I am having a hunger games themes birthday party could you add some fancy meals that are easy for my tributes (guests)!!!!?
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Who is Hubby
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NEVER EVER BURN MANGO WOOD. The smoke is crazy poisonous. Like poison ivy in your lungs, and then you die.
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