Fats Villainized

     Fat, whether eaten or trimmed, frequently gets blamed for making Americans a country of large waist proportions.

     One potential cause of fat villainy is displaced anger against sugar. A study's highlights here show that sugar is just as damaging if not moreso than dietary fat intake, and that the brain gets pleasure from consuming sugar just as much as fat.

     Trimmed fat has many uses, not excluding soap making. A really interesting chemistry read of how fats become saponified can be found here. Soap made from animal and vegetable fats contains glycerine, a natural moisturizer, where commercial soaps lack this valuable by-product. The glycerine is removed via a chemical process, and sold to be used for , but since glycerol is a by-product of manufacturing biodiesel, it isn't worth as much as it used to be. The glycerin-devoid soap is milled, or ground down, and rebatched into what we call bar soap.


     There is quite a bit of research that shows that people can't survive without dietary fats. Most people are familiar with the concept of Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids being good for us. Other fats are necessary as well, as this post I wrote a while back demonstrates. Indeed, too much protein with too little fat has been known to cause a dietary phenomenon called Rabbit Starvation, sometimes known as protein poisoning. It happens in the absence of carbohydrates and fat, as the name implies. The liver can't effectively metabolize the high amounts of protein, and the kidneys are inefficient when blood urea levels are that high. Death soon results. The prevention? Eat a wide variety of foods, including natural carbohydrates and fats.

     In summation, blaming carbon molecules for poor life choices is like blaming guns because psychopaths use them.

Urban Homesteading: Quail

     Quail are probably the niftiest native but domesticated backyard birds available. I have been tossing around the idea of getting quail versus chickens, but considering I will need to buy 100% of their feed, quail seem like the best choice. They are quieter and take up very little space, and even more prolific than chickens in terms of meat and eggs.
     Quail could also serve as cat and dog food with hardly any preparation in the event that we were unable to buy pet food. If that day seemed close on the horizon, rabbits, quail,  and chickens would be raised in every back yard. Quail are insectivores beyond par, it would behoove all of us to raise insects (mealworms, black soldier fly, cockroaches, grasshoppers) to feed our microlivestock healthfully. Although there is not much common knowledge on the topic, cockroaches would probably be the easiest to raise, since they can live on cardboard and mulch, right?

     The young man over at Florida Hillbilly has written a number of articles featuring knowledge he has learned from raising quail in his backyard. This kind of secondhand experience is priceless, and makes for interesting reading even if you aren't interested in quail...yet. Florida Hillbilly's Quail

Big List of Rabbit Recipes

Stuffed Rabbit
1 rabbit
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
1 1/4 cups stock
2 cups breadcrumbs
1 large onion, chopped
2 large apples, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons parsley
1 teaspoon thyme
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoons butter
1 egg
Pepper to taste

     Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Wash and dry rabbit. Fry onions gently in 4 tablespoons butter. Add apple to onions and fry until soft. Mix onions, apple and 1 tablespoon butter with all other stuffing ingredients, and brown quickly. Place rabbit in a casserole dish, stuff, surround with excess stuffing, add well-seasoned stock, and cook in oven for 1 3/4 hours, or until tender.

Hasenpfeffer
6 - 8 slices bacon, finely chopped
2 rabbits
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
3/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 cup chicken stock, preferably homemade
1 bay leaf

     Heat the roaster or casserole over moderate heat and cook the bacon, stirring and turning it frequently, until crisp, about 10 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Set the pan with bacon fat aside for a few moments. Cut the rabbit into serving pieces. Cut away and discard the belly meat. Add the salt, pepper, and flour to a brown paper bag. Add a few rabbit pieces to the bag and shake to coat with flour mixture; repeat with remaining rabbit pieces. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Heat the reserved bacon fat in the pan over high heat until it sputters. Brown the rabbit pieces on all sides, in batches; this should take about 10 minutes. Transfer them to a serving plate. Pour off all but 2 tablespoon of fat and cook the onions in it until they are soft and translucent. Pour in the vinegar and chicken stock and add the bay leaf. Bring to a boil over high heat, scraping up any browned bits clinging to the bottom and sides of the pan. Return the rabbit with juices to the roaster or casserole. Add the drained bacon. Cover the vessel tightly, and simmer for 1 1/2 hours, or until the rabbits are tender but not falling apart. Serve the rabbit directly from the roaster or casserole, or arrange the pieces attractively on a heated platter.

Braised Rabbit with Prunes

One 3 to 3 1/2 pound rabbit, cut into six to eight serving parts

Salt

Olive oil

1 Tbsp butter

3-4 large shallots, sliced, about 1 cup

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup dry white wine (or chicken stock with a tablespoon of vinegar)

Freshly ground black pepper

7 ounces (200 grams) pitted prunes (dried plums)

Several sprigs fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

1 rabbit liver (optional, should be sold with the rabbit)

1 Tbsp vinegar (optional)

     Heat 3 Tbsp olive oil in a large thick-bottomed Dutch oven (I used a 5 quart) on medium-high heat. Add a tablespoon of butter. Pat dry the rabbit pieces, sprinkle all over with salt, and working in batches, brown on all sides in the pan. Remove the rabbit pieces from the pan. Add the sliced shallots, reduce the heat to medium, and cook for 2 minutes. Add the minced garlic clove and cook for 30 seconds more. Add the white wine and increase the heat to high. Use a wooden spoon to scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Let the wine boil, until reduced by at least a half.Lower the heat to low (you may want to move the pot to the smallest burner on your stove). Arrange the rabbit pieces, prunes, thyme, and bay leaf in the pan. Sprinkle with black pepper to taste. Cover tightly and let cook for 45 minutes. (Cooking time assumes you are starting with a rabbit that has been brought to near room temp before cooking. If you are using a rabbit straight from the fridge, it may take a few more minutes to cook through. Also, if you keep lifting up the lid to check on the rabbit, it will increase the needed cooking time.) After the rabbit is cooked through, if you want, you can intensify the flavor of the sauce using the rabbit's liver. The liver should have been included with the rabbit from your butcher, just like whole chickens come with the giblets. (Don't worry, the liver won't make your dish taste like liver. You can even try just a little amount to taste to make sure. The liver acts as a "liaison", thickening the sauce and making it richer.) Purée the rabbit liver with 1 Tbsp of vinegar (I used wine vinegar, but cider or white vinegar will do). Remove the rabbit pieces, prunes, thyme sprigs, and bay leaf from the pot (discard thyme and bay leaves) to a serving dish. Whisk the puréed liver vinegar mixture into the sauce in the pot and cook for another 10 minutes. (If the sauce is still too thin, you can thicken further with corn starch or flour.) Then drizzle the sauce over and around the rabbit and prunes.

Rabbit in Wine (Lapin au Vin)
6 slices bacon
1 1/2 -3 lb fryer rabbit, cut up
2 1/2 cups dry red wine
1 cup (10 3/4 oz) condensed chicken broth
1 T ketchup
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup filtered cold water
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 jar (16 oz) whole onions, drained
1 can (4 oz) mushrooms, drained

     Fry bacon until crisp. Remove from frying pan, drain and crumble. Cook lapin (rabbit pieces) in the bacon fat on medium heat until light brown - 5 minutes each side. Move lapin into a 4 quart dutch oven. Stir in crumbled bacon, wine, chicken broth, ketchup, thyme, salt, pepper, and garlic. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer until the thickest pieces are done, approximately 40-45 minutes. Remove lapin pieces; skim fat, if there is any. Shake water and flour in a tightly covered container; gradually stir into broth. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Stir in onions and mushrooms. Return lapin to sauce. Heat to boiling - approximately 2 minutes. Serve over a bed of rice, noodles or mashed potatoes.

Rabbit Cobbler
3 tbsp olive oil
1 leek, well washed and chopped
Salt and black pepper
2 c quartered button mushrooms
1 ½ c or more chicken stock or, if you have the foresight, rabbit stock
1 sprig fresh, chopped rosemary, plus more to mix into the cobbler batter
2 medium carrots, cut into coins
1 butchered rabbit
1 c peas, frozen or fresh
2 tbsp assorted fresh herbs (e.g., chives, lemon thyme, etc.)
1 c corn, frozen or fresh
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 c flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
4 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into bits
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs

     Heat oven to 375°F. Put oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When oil is hot, add the leek, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook until liquid has released and evaporated, about 5 minutes. Add stock and rosemary; bring to a boil, and let bubble for a minute or two, then add carrots and rabbit and reduce heat so the liquid simmers. Cook until carrots are almost tender and rabbit is cooked through — 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the type of rabbit. Pull out the rabbit parts and pull the meat from the bone. Chop up the meat and add it back into the pot. Add peas, herbs, and corn and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are brightly colored and just tender, another minute or so. Whisk cornstarch with a few tablespoons of broth to make a slurry. Add slurry to pot and stir until liquid thickens slightly. Transfer everything to an ovenproof dish and set aside.
Put flour in a food processor with rosemary, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add butter and process until mixture resembles small peas, no more than 30 seconds. (You can also do this by hand, using two knives, a fork, your fingers, or a pastry cutter). Transfer mixture to a bowl and mix in buttermilk and eggs until it just comes together; it should be sticky. Drop spoonfuls of batter on top of vegetables and rabbit and smooth with a knife, covering as much surface area as possible but leaving a few gaps for steam to escape. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes until golden on top and bubbly underneath. Scoop into bowls and serve immediately.



Rabbit Ragout
2 pounds rabbit, cut into small serving pieces
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup diced yellow onion
1/3 cup diced celery
1/3 cup diced carrot
1 small fennel bulb, diced
1-½ teaspoons fennel seed, toasted in a dry skillet until fragrant, then crushed
2 tablespoons minced fresh garlic

2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons Pernod
1 cup dry white wine
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
¼ heaping teaspoon saffron threads
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth or seasoned homemade chicken stock
1 can (28 ounces) plum tomatoes in juice

     Season the rabbit all over with salt and pepper. Reserve the rabbit liver, if available, in the refrigerator. In a large braising pan or Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Brown the rabbit pieces, about 2 minutes on each side. (Do not crowd the pan; brown the rabbit in batches, if necessary.) As rabbit is browned, transfer to a plate. Add the onion, celery, carrot and fennel to the pan, and sauté for about 3 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Stir in the fennel seed, garlic and tomato paste, and sauté 1 minute. Add the Pernod and wine and reduce for 5 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pan to get all the browned bits up. Add the bay leaves, thyme, saffron and broth, and using clean hands, crush the tomatoes and add them to the mixture with their juice. Return the rabbit and any accumulated juices to the pan. Poke rabbit down into liquid to make sure it is covered. Bring to a simmer and braise, uncovered, keeping the sauce at a constant low simmer for about 50 to 60 minutes or until meat is very tender. Remove the sauce from the heat and transfer the rabbit meat from the sauce to a baking sheet. Discard the bay leaves. Return the sauce to very low heat. Very finely chop the reserved liver and stir into the hot sauce. When the meat is cool enough to handle, pull the meat from the bones. Discard the bones, chop the meat into rustic pieces and mix it back into the sauce. (Be careful of small bones.) Taste the sauce for salt and season to taste. Enough for 1 pound fresh fettuccine pasta.

Bigos, Hunter's Stew
1 3/4 lb sauerkraut
4 strips bacon, diced
1 small head cabbage, thinly sliced
Small handful of dried mushrooms
1/2 lb boneless venison, leg, or a stewing cut (not the loin), cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 lb boneless stew beef, such as chuck, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 lb pork or veal shoulder, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/4 cup flour
3 tablespoons vegetable oil or lard
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
1 cup red wine
1/2 lb smoked kielbasa, thickly sliced
1 cup pitted prunes, quartered
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Bread for serving, preferably rustic and dark, such as a Russian loaf


     Drain the sauerkraut, place it in a medium saucepan, and add 2 cups water and bacon pieces. Cover and boil over medium heat for 20 minutes or longer, until the sauerkraut is very tender and the bacon is cooked. Meanwhile, put the fresh cabbage and dried mushrooms in a separate saucepan, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Continue boiling until the cabbage is tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Drain and set aside. Rinse all the meat and pat dry. Put the flour in a shallow bowl and toss the meat to coat. Heat 1 tbsp of the vegetable oil over medium heat in a stew pot large enough to hold all the meat and vegetables. Cook the onion until softened, remove with a slotted spoon, and set aside. Add the remaining 2 tbsp oil to the pot and lightly brown the meat, in batches, over medium heat, 2 to 3 minutes per side, transferring the meat to a plate when finished.When all the meat has been browned, raise the heat to high, pour in the wine, and boil briefly, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon. Return the meat and all its resting juices back to the pot, and add the onion, kielbasa, prunes, cabbage, and the sauerkraut and bacon mixture, along with its cooking water. Salt generously, add several grinds of pepper, and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat, cover the pot with the lid slightly askew, and simmer on very low heat for a good 2 to 3 hours, until the meat falls apart and the broth is rich and brown. Stir the stew occasionally, and ensure that the liquid isn’t evaporating too quickly (add a small amount of water when necessary). Serve with bread.

Raw Meat May Not be Enough for Your Cat

     Recently a study was completed at a zoo in Illinois regarding the raw meat diet. It covered at least 225 large felids who were fed diets of raw beef, bison, elk, and horse. Care was taken to ensure the meat was as fresh as possible, though the meats were trimmed for the cats.
     It can be inferred that our house cats have the same nutritional needs as the larger cats.
     It was found that though the meats were digested readily, the nutritional needs of the cats were not completely met, and the cats were lacking in essential fatty acids. The elk diet was lacking in overall fats.
     I'm not about to travel to harvest some bison for my cat, so I've sent an email to the person in charge of the study, which overall, I thought was done well. The sample size was adequate to draw the conclusions presented (unlike some medical studies!) This study would be much more useful/practical if it focused on readily-available local meat sources.

My email:

How well did the cats (large or small) do on a diet of rabbit, guinea pig, mice, and small game birds like quail and pigeon?

I only ask because that kind of dish is much more likely to be what most people are going to want to feed their pet cats were cat food prices to increase.

What kind of natural source would you recommend for the missing essential acids? Maybe grasshoppers, eggs, fish, or Black Soldier Fly Larvae? 

Kelly's response:

Chrissy – good questions. We have not tested any of those ingredients in cats because our main focus has been on large captive exotic cats.  To apply more data to small captive exotics and domestic cats, we recently performed a study in which many smaller prey items, including rabbits, mice, rats, quail, and chicks, were analyzed for nutrient composition (protein, fat, etc.).  These data have not been published yet.  We have not tested the digestibility of those items in domestic or exotic cats though.

 As for fatty acid content, the main problem in our study was that trimmed meats had very little fat of any kind.  As long as fat is not trimmed off, numerous sources could be used.  This probably would not be an issue with whole prey items.  Those items, however, often have other problems (e.g., mineral deficiencies).  That data will be submitted for publication soon. 

     So... lesson learned, never trim the fat off of your lion's elk dinner!

Azolla, Azolla spp.

 Uses: Edible, Fodder, Fertilizer. Native to: The Cretaceous Period, worldwide.
     This floating water plant is actually a tiny, prehistoric fern with amazing properties. It fixes atmospheric nitrogen due to its symbiotic relationship with cyanobacteria, like an aquatic version of our more common legumes. Due to its nitrogen-fixation, it is also an extremely protein-rich plant, making it an excellent choice for home-grown fodder. In fact, there are very few land-based livestock animals that will not eat azolla, if any. Chickens, rabbits, goats, ducks, and cows are reported to gorge on this aquatic plant.
     Historically it has been used as a wetland green manure crop in the warmer parts of Asia. In the spring when taro or rice is planted in the boglands, the azolla would be innoculated to the water's surface. There the little ferns would fix nitrogen and proliferate, crowding out any competing algae or weeds via shading. Since the rice and taro have most of their foliage above water-level, it does not hinder their growth. The azolla will thrive, then self-mulch, then die down when the cooler weather comes. The farmers harvest some and shelter it for next year's use. The green manure properties of azolla make it possibly the six most valuable ferns on the planet.

A close-up of the roots which hang into the water.

     It's culture is simple - grow it in clean still or gentle water. Wind and water turbulence can fragment and destroy azolla, so sometimes floating beds are used. Like duckweed, under the right conditions it can become weedy if it escapes into waterways, so care should be taken to prevent escape. Since it provides it's own nitrogen, phosphorous can be a limiting factor to optimal growth. "The symptoms of phosphorous deficiency are red-coloured
fronds (due the presence of the pigment anthocyanin), decreased growth and curled
roots." A quick search of the webs reveals a superior organic source of high quality phosphorous can be made by burning animal bones at high temperatures to ashes. Never has a rocket mass heater in florida sounded more appealing!
     Azolla species can be used as a very nutritious survival food for humans, but it will need to be cooked to destroy any pathogens that might be living in the watery growing media. For animals, this compilated table shows it to have 16.5% crude protein and a bevy of other useful vitamins, like leucine and alanine. This Australian study lists many of the benefits of using azolla as a large-scale fodder source, but points out a simple drawback to commercial production - that contamination of the plantings by tiny freshwater shrimp can occur. This accidental animal protein renders the azolla illegal to sell as a feed source for ruminants in Australia, as they have strict legislation prohibiting animal proteins for ruminant consumption there. They also recommend the azolla be fed fresh or refrigerated, but within a week of harvest.
     A very nice synopsis of azolla research here.

Some free aquatic snail contamination.

I don't speak this language, but the video is very informative even muted.

The Rabbit Manure Garden

     I didn't believe the claim that rabbit manure was garden gold, so I decided to prove it for myself. After all, if a five gallon bucket of this stuff can go for $10 or more, it must be great, right?

    The patch above was the remains of the first pond hole, the hole that had the cable line running through it. I filled it with rabbit manure and planted some seeds, topped with a bit of mulch. (A sunken garden bed). With the watering and excellent spring weather, the squash plants quickly overgrew the beans and peanuts, with the cannas reaching outrageous proportions faster than the cannas elsewhere. I didn't even expect these squash to do much more than sprout, since I have had such dismal luck elsewhere in the yard. They are even larger than my dad's squash plants, and he's a gardening genius who's fond of fertilizer. It would be pretty nifty to get a squash out of this bed, but if I don't, the squash leaves are good rabbit eats.

Same squash plants planted at the same time lacking manure.

     There are wild claims on the internet that rabbit manure is wonderful because it contains no weed seeds. That is true, but only if you feed your rabbits commercially prepared pellet diets and no other food. My rabbit manure has weed seeds from their favorite weeds, and seeds from some of their other foods like strawberries and blackberries. So they poop out more food to eat. Awesome.
     An interesting, but unrelated paper about phosphate.