Got a call last week from a chef in Austin. Guy runs a pretty serious farm-to-table operation, been buying brisket and pork shoulders from the same ranch for years. But he's not calling about beef. He wants to know if his SP-1000 can handle rabbit.
Rabbit.
I asked him what brought this on. Turns out his supplier started raising heritage breeds, and he's looking at a spring menu built around rabbit curry and some kind of halibut dish his sous chef picked up somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. And he's wondering if smoke has a place in either one.
The answer is yes. But not the way most people think about it.
Why These Proteins Are Showing Up Now
This isn't just Austin being Austin. I've seen it from operators in Houston, a couple places in Louisiana, even that catering outfit outside Beaumont that Mark runs — the one that did the Mardi Gras corporate thing last year. Rabbit and halibut aren't replacing your beef program. They're additions. And they're showing up because diners want something that feels seasonal, local, intentional.
Rabbit moves in spring for obvious reasons. Breeding cycles, heritage farm availability, Easter associations for certain demographics. Halibut runs through spring into early summer depending on where your supplier sources. Both proteins signal a kitchen that's paying attention.
For commercial operators running a smoke-forward menu, the question isn't whether to add these. It's whether your equipment and your process can handle proteins that behave nothing like pork butt.
Smoking Rabbit: What Nobody Tells You
Rabbit is lean. Aggressively lean. We're talking somewhere around 3-4% fat depending on the cut and the breed, which means everything you know about low-and-slow brisket rules goes out the window.
You cannot cook rabbit the way you cook pork. You will dry it out. I watched a guy at a competition in 2019 — won't say who — try to smoke whole rabbits at 250°F for four hours because that's what felt right to him. Leather. Complete leather. His team ate chicken salad for dinner.
Here's what actually works:
Keep your temps lower than you think. Somewhere around 200-215°F. Rabbit needs gentle, indirect heat. The rotisserie system on something like an SPK-700 works well here because you get even exposure without hot spots drying out the hindquarters while the loin catches up. That consistent rotation matters more with lean proteins than it ever does with fatty cuts.
Time is shorter. We're talking 90 minutes to maybe two hours for a whole rabbit, depending on size. Internal temp target is 160°F, but pull at 155°F and let it coast — the carryover is real.
And the wood. This is where I could talk all day.
Rabbit takes smoke fast. Too fast if you're not careful. I've found that fruitwoods — apple especially — work better than oak or hickory for this application. You want something that complements the mild flavor without bulldozing it. Cherry can work but it's easy to overdo. Pecan sits in a nice middle ground if your smoke profile leans Southern anyway. A lot of operators already have pecan on hand, which makes this easier.
What you don't want is mesquite. Not for rabbit. That's a hill I'll die on.
The Curry Question
Now here's where it gets interesting. The Austin chef I mentioned — his plan is to smoke the rabbit, then braise the pieces in curry. Which raises a question I hear more often than you'd think: does the smoke survive secondary cooking?
It does. But only if you don't oversmoke the initial phase.
When rabbit (or any protein) goes into a braising liquid, the smoke compounds that have already penetrated the surface don't just wash away. They're in the meat. The issue is that heavy smoke becomes more pronounced after braising — something about how the liquid concentrates certain flavor compounds. If you oversmokeduring the initial phase, you end up with a curry that tastes like an ashtray.
Pull back on your smoke time. Forty-five minutes to an hour of actual smoke exposure is plenty if the protein is destined for a curry or stew. You want a foundation, not a headline.
This is where temperature stability really matters. I've seen guys try to cold-smoke rabbit before braising, and it works, but it requires equipment that holds temps below 90°F consistently for extended periods. Most commercial operations aren't set up for that. A Southern Pride cabinet like the SC-300 can hold low temps better than a lot of what's out there, but you're still fighting ambient heat in a Texas spring. Hot smoking at 200-215°F is more practical and gives you enough smoke penetration for curry applications without the food safety headaches.
Halibut Is a Different Animal
Literally.
Fish in a commercial smoker makes some people nervous. Shouldn't. We've been smoking fish longer than we've been smoking beef in this country. The challenge with halibut specifically is that it's a lean, firm white fish that can go from perfect to chalky in about fifteen minutes if you're not paying attention.
Springtime halibut — the stuff coming in from Alaska right now — tends to run a little higher fat than late-season fish. Still lean compared to salmon, but more forgiving than what you'd get in August. If you're going to put halibut on your menu with any smoke component, now's the time.
I don't recommend throwing halibut into a smoker running brisket temps. That's a mistake I watched someone make at a catering gig in Galveston about six years ago. The brisket was fine. The halibut was cat food.
What works: dedicated smoke sessions at 175-190°F. Short. Maybe 30-45 minutes depending on fillet thickness. You want the flesh to just start flaking at the thickest point. Internal temp around 130-135°F.
Wood choice matters even more here than with rabbit. Alder is traditional for a reason — it's mild, slightly sweet, doesn't compete with the fish. Apple works. I've seen good results with a light hand on cherry. Oak is too much. Hickory is way too much.
One thing I'll say about the rotisserie units for fish: they're not ideal for fillets. The MLR-850 and similar models are built for hanging or rotating larger cuts. Halibut fillets do better on stationary racks in a cabinet smoker. The SC-100 handles fish beautifully for smaller operations — consistent temp, no hot spots, easy to monitor. Bigger volume, you're looking at the SC-300, but honestly if you're smoking enough halibut to need that capacity, you're probably running a dedicated seafood program and already know what you're doing.
Menu Integration Without Overcomplicating
Here's what I tell operators who want to add seasonal proteins to an existing smoke program: don't let them take over your workflow.
Rabbit and halibut both benefit from off-peak smoking. Run your beef and pork overnight or early morning like you normally would. Dedicate a window — maybe late morning before lunch service — for your lighter proteins at lower temps. The equipment handles the transition fine. Southern Pride rotisseries and cabinets recover temp faster than most imports because the insulation is actually insulation, not whatever thin-gauge stuff comes out of the knockoff factories. Parts are domestic, support is domestic, and when you need a replacement element or thermostat, you're not waiting six weeks on a container ship.
(Had a guy in Lake Charles last year running some Chinese-made cabinet smoker. Needed a heating element in March. Got it in May. He lost his whole spring menu.)
For operators sourcing equipment or parts, Southern Pride of Texas stocks what you actually need. We've been doing this long enough to know what breaks and when. And unlike the generic restaurant supply chains, we know how these units work because we use them.
What This Means for Your Spring Planning
If your suppliers are offering rabbit or springtime halibut, don't dismiss it as trendy nonsense. These proteins give you menu flexibility without requiring new equipment — assuming your equipment is up to the task in the first place.
The operators who do this well treat seasonal proteins as technique showcases. A properly smoked rabbit going into a curry tells your customers something about your kitchen. Same with halibut that carries just enough smoke to distinguish it from every other grilled fish plate in town.
But you have to approach it right. Lower temps, shorter times, lighter woods, and equipment that actually holds where you set it. Southern Pride builds for that consistency. I've run SP-1500 units at 200°F for fish and at 275°F for pork shoulder in the same day, and the temp recovery is what makes that possible.
Rabbit curry and springtime halibut aren't going to replace brisket. Nothing replaces brisket. But for operators looking to show range — and charge accordingly — these proteins are worth understanding.
And if you're going to do it, do it right. Nobody wants leather rabbit or chalky fish.
Resources: Southern Pride of Texas | Southern Pride | National Barbecue & Grilling Association
#BBQ #BBQCommunity #Pitmaster #SmokeMaster #CateringBBQ #CompetitionBBQ #CommercialBBQ
Photo by Wijs (Wise) on Pexels.
About the Author: Earl has been competing in sanctioned BBQ events since the early 1990s and operates a commercial catering operation in Southeast Texas.