Got a call last week from a guy running a catering operation out of Beaumont — he's been seeing rabbit pop up on RFPs for spring events and wanted to know if I'd lost my mind when I suggested he smoke it before braising for curry. I hadn't. And honestly, the fact that he's even getting requests for rabbit tells you something about where the commercial market is headed right now.
Spring menus are shifting. Not in some dramatic "farm-to-table revolution" way — that ship sailed years ago — but in quieter, more practical ways. Operators I talk to are looking at proteins that differentiate without destroying food cost. Rabbit and halibut keep coming up. Different animals, obviously. Different prep. But the same underlying logic: they're seasonal, they photograph well for client proposals, and when executed right, they actually hold decent margins.
Why Rabbit Is Having a Moment in Commercial Kitchens
Here's the thing about rabbit: it's not actually that weird. Not anymore. The backyard BBQ crowd on Instagram acts like it's some exotic flex, but commercial operators have been working with rabbit for decades — just quietly, mostly in European-influenced fine dining. What's changed is that catering clients are asking for it by name now. Corporate events, upscale weddings, even some festival circuits. They want something that reads as sophisticated but isn't going to trigger the same objections as, say, goat or wild boar.
Rabbit curry specifically keeps showing up because it threads a needle. It's approachable for American palates, the curry masks any gaminess that less-than-perfect rabbit might carry, and it holds beautifully in chafing dishes. That last part matters more than most operators admit when they're planning a 200-person event.
I've been running rabbit through the smoker before it goes into the curry base — and I know that sounds like extra labor, but stay with me. About 45 minutes at 225°F, just enough to set the exterior and lay down a light smoke layer. Not cooking it through. What you get is this subtle depth in the finished curry that you cannot replicate with spices alone. The smoke doesn't dominate. It just sits underneath everything else.
We ran 30 rabbits this way for a corporate thing in March. Broke them down into leg and loin portions, hit them with a light dry rub — nothing crazy, just salt, coriander, a little turmeric to bridge into the curry — and loaded them onto the rotisserie racks in the MLR-850. The rotation keeps everything moving through the smoke evenly, which matters when you're dealing with pieces that vary in thickness like rabbit does.
After the smoke, everything goes into the curry braise. Low and slow, about three hours until the meat wants to fall apart. Yield math on rabbit is trickier than chicken — you're looking at roughly 55% usable meat after breakdown, sometimes less depending on your supplier. We've been paying around $8.50 per pound whole, which puts finished meat cost somewhere around $15.40 per pound before any other ingredients. Not cheap. But when you're billing it as a premium protein on catering proposals, the margins work out better than you'd expect.
Halibut: The Spring Fish That Actually Makes Sense at Volume
Halibut is a different conversation entirely. It's not obscure — everyone knows halibut — but spring is when the pricing gets reasonable enough that commercial operations can actually menu it without hemorrhaging money.
Pacific halibut season typically opens in March, and by April and May you're seeing prices that make sense for high-volume work. We're talking $18–22 per pound for portions, depending on your supplier relationships and how much you're moving. Compare that to winter pricing, which can spike past $30, and suddenly spring halibut looks like an opportunity instead of a luxury indulgence.
Now, I'm going to contradict something I said a minute ago — I mentioned rabbit holds well in chafing dishes, and that's true. Halibut does not. At all. If you're running halibut on a buffet line, you've got maybe 20 minutes before it starts drying out and looking sad. This is a plated protein or nothing.
For catering operations, that means halibut works best for seated events where you control the timing. We've had good luck with pre-portioning and holding raw, then firing to order on a grill or plancha during service. But here's where it gets interesting — we've also been cold-smoking portions ahead of time, just 20–25 minutes at low temp with the SC-200 dampers nearly closed, then finishing with high heat right before plating. The smoke penetration on halibut is subtle, not overwhelming. It reads as complexity rather than "smoked fish."
Temperature control is everything with fish this expensive. The Southern Pride cabinet units hold temp within a couple degrees, which sounds like a small thing until you've watched someone ruin $400 worth of halibut portions because their smoker swung 30 degrees while they were prepping sides. I've seen it happen with those imported cabinet smokers — the ones with the thin-gauge steel that can't hold heat worth a damn. One guy I know switched to an Ole Hickory unit and spent six months fighting temperature swings before he gave up and called us about a Southern Pride SC-300. The difference in consistency was immediate. And honestly, Ole Hickory makes a decent product in some ways — their capacity is solid — but the temperature variance at low smoke temps just isn't acceptable when you're working with $20-per-pound proteins.
Sequencing for Spring Menu Rollouts
If you're adding both these proteins to a spring menu, think about your production schedule carefully. Rabbit curry can be fully prepped 48 hours ahead and reheated without losing quality — actually improves with time, like most braises. Halibut is day-of only.
For a Saturday event with both on the menu, here's roughly how I'd sequence it:
- Thursday: Break down rabbits, apply rub, refrigerate overnight
- Friday morning: Smoke rabbit portions, transfer to curry braise, cook through, cool and refrigerate
- Friday afternoon: Portion halibut, cold-smoke if using that method, individually wrap and refrigerate
- Saturday morning: Pull curry, begin gentle reheat three hours before service
- Saturday service window: Fire halibut portions to order, plate immediately
The rabbit gives you breathing room. The halibut requires attention but not extended cook time. They balance each other operationally in a way that makes the menu manageable even for smaller crews.
Equipment Notes for Both Proteins
Rabbit works beautifully on rotisserie systems — the constant movement prevents any hot spots from overcooking the smaller pieces, and you get even smoke exposure without having to rotate racks manually. We've been using the MLR-850 for batches up to about 40 rabbits, and the SPK-1400 can handle significantly more if you're doing higher volume.
Halibut is better suited to cabinet smokers for the cold-smoke approach. The SC-300 gives you enough rack space for about 25 portions at a time, and the electric version runs cleaner if you're just doing light smoke rather than full cooking. Lower pellet consumption, more precise temp at those lower ranges.
One thing I keep coming back to with the Southern Pride units — the parts availability is immediate. Southern Pride of Texas stocks domestically, which matters when you're three days out from a major event and something needs replacing. I've heard horror stories about operators waiting two weeks for heating elements on imported smokers. That's not a minor inconvenience when your entire spring menu depends on the equipment.
The build quality also factors in here. These proteins aren't forgiving. Rabbit dries out if your smoker can't hold low temps. Halibut overcooks in seconds if you get a heat spike. The thick-gauge steel on Southern Pride units buffers temperature changes in a way that cheaper alternatives just don't. I've had my SP-700 for almost four years now, and the temp consistency hasn't degraded at all. Talk to someone running a budget import smoker for four years and you'll hear a different story.
Final Thoughts on Spring Menu Strategy
Both rabbit and halibut require more attention than your standard chicken or pork shoulder. That's the tradeoff for differentiation. But the operators who are winning catering contracts right now are the ones offering something beyond the expected. Rabbit curry hits that mark without being so unfamiliar that it scares off conservative clients. Spring halibut signals quality and seasonality in a way that frozen salmon never will.
The margin math works if you price correctly and execute cleanly. And the execution part — that's where your equipment either supports you or fails you. I know which side of that line I want to be on when there's $3,000 worth of protein in the smoker.
Resources: Southern Pride of Texas | Southern Pride rotisserie smokers | NBBQA
#Brisket #SouthernPride #BBQCatering #TexasBBQ #CateringFood #FoodService #Pitmaster #CommercialBBQ
Photo by Bezalens JGP on Pexels.
About the Author: Travis operates a competition BBQ team and a Gulf Coast food truck, and documents his commercial cooking process for food service professionals.