Rabbit, Smoked

Ingredients

• 2 Gallons water
• 2 Cups HOT water

Salt (I prefer Kosher Salt)

• 1 Cup White Sugar
• 8 Tbsp Garlic Powder
• 6 Tbsp Ground Black Pepper
• 15 Strips Bacon

Directions

1. Add one cup of hot water to a two cup measuring cup.
2. Pour in salt, any salt, until the water line reaches 1.5 cups.
3. The water will swallow up almost exactly 1/2 pound regardless of whether you use table salt, kosher salt, pickling salt, or sea salt.
4. Pour the slurry into a very clean non-reactive container large enough to hold the meat and 1 gallon of water (I like to use food grade 5 gallon buckets).

Add the garlic, sugar, and black pepper.

1. Stir until most of the sugar is dissolved. The garlic and pepper will not dissolve. (I use a BIG [2 foot] stick blender for this)

Add 1 gallon cold water.

1. Repeat steps 1 through 7 for each additional gallon needed.
2. Place rabbit into brine ensuring they are all covered.
3. Either put the entire container into a refrigerator or fill a couple gallon zip lock bags with ice and set them on top.
4. Let this set at least 4 hours (I let it go over night).
5. If at any point the ice in the zip lock bags becomes completely melted, replace the water in the zip lock bag with fresh ice. You do not want the temperature of the brine/rabbits to go above 40 degrees F.

Time to Smoke

1. When the brining process has finished, remove the rabbits and rinse thoroughly (I leave a little black pepper for some nice spice).

Pat dry and place into the smoker.

1. Smoke with a mellow wood like cherry or apple at 235 degrees F for about 2 to 3 hours depending on the size of your rabbits.