Pearl Barley Rabbit Stew Recipe

A good easy rabbit stew is as old school as it gets this one is delightfully homely, packed with flavour and features the much-underused pearl barley.

Rabbit Stew with Pearl Barley!

I’m kicking off my slow transition to autumnal food with a delicious and simple stew recipe. Yes, I’m being all populist again with my fancy old-fashioned ingredients and traditional cooking methods.

This recipe is not my first rabbit recipe here on Krumpli. It joins a rabbit tagine, a pot roast rabbit pasta and a rabbit ragu.

This recipe, however, is a little closer to home and is very British indeed.

It is the sort of thing that would make my gran smile a great deal!

Rabbit was one of the sources of protein that was not rationed during WWII in the UK and during the rationing period after. As a result, it became understandably a popular ingredient.

I genuinely love the stuff, it has a wonderfully subtle flavour that is nothing at all like chicken! So forget everything that you have ever read.

It is exceptionally lean and has a tendency to dry out when cooked quickly.

Consequently, this slow simmer approach of the bony leg cut is the perfect foolproof introduction to cooking rabbit.

You could swap this out for other rabbit pieces, but be careful of the loin which is notorious for drying out.

What is Pearl Barley?

Wait for it folks, pearl barley is… Wait for it… Barley! Ok, it is barley that has the inedible husk removed and then polished to remove the bran.

It is a pretty ancient ingredient often associated with ‘padding’ out frugal dishes. I personally love the flavour, it is kinda nutty and has the most wonderful chewy texture.

I use it here in a similar way to the way I use it in my cockaleekie soup. Yes, you read that name right, and yes you have to click the linky thing to find out more!

In some ways it is there to provide bulk, but in the main, it is there for texture and flavour.

This recipe is a slowly simmered stew, which means the vegetables in it go pretty soft… You could add in the vegetables later but then you would lose the wonderful depth of flavour you get from them.

They enhance the stock and that flavour gets all sucked up by the barley. The pearl barley then takes centre stage for texture in this dish preventing everything being a little ‘soft’.

Pearl Barley is also the base ingredient of Orzotto, a north Italian sibling dish of risotto. Most importantly a dish I really must share with you this winter!

Traditional Recipe, Traditional Cooking Method.

It is very easy to get carried away with all sorts of kitchen gadgets. You could, of course, cook this recipe in a pressure cooker or slow cooker.

There is, however, no need! A pot simply simmering away on the stove works every bit as well as other methods.

There is nothing fancy going on here and involves nothing that my grandmother would have been surprised to see.

Even the fennel seeds are an ancient olde English ingredient with written references dating back to the 10th century.

It is also a great combination with rabbit, that light anise flavour with the subtle flavour of rabbit is wonderful!