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RABBIT (a la Juliette)
Bone a young rabbit, and use the best parts only, the others can go into the stock-pot. Pass it through a mincing machine with two ounces of cooked ham, add the yolks of three eggs and a gill of thick bechamel, and mix well. Butter a plain border mould, put some cooked ham cut in strips at the bottom, and over that a layer of forcement. Fill up with the rabbit mixture after adding to it the whites of the eggs beaten stiffly. Cover with a piece of buttered paper and steam for an hour. When done, turn out and fill the centre with a
A steamed rabbit mousseline set in a ring mould — essentially a fine forcemeat lightened with beaten egg white. The text breaks off mid-sentence at the garnish, so the centre is yours to decide.
- The hinge: keep everything coldThe mixture is a mousseline, and it holds together because cold fat, egg yolk and béchamel emulsify. Chill the rabbit, the ham and the béchamel thoroughly before mincing, and fold in the whipped whites at the last moment so they do not deflate.
- A gillIn a British book of this period a gill is 5 fl oz, or a generous half cup — not the 4 fl oz US gill. Use about 150 ml of béchamel made stiff enough to hold a spoon upright.
- Mincing machineA food processor does the work in seconds, but pulse rather than run it or the meat turns to paste and the mousse becomes rubbery. For the smoothest result, process and then push the mixture through a drum sieve or fine mesh.
- ForcementAlmost certainly forcemeat, whether a misprint or a period variant spelling — a seasoned ground-meat stuffing, here used as a lining layer between the ham strips and the rabbit mixture. Veal or chicken forcemeat is traditional; a portion of the rabbit mixture itself will do.
- Border mouldA plain ring mould, so the finished dish turns out as a crown with a hollow centre. Butter it heavily and line the base with buttered paper as well as the ham if you want a clean release.
- Steaming and donenessAn hour is about right for a 1-litre ring mould, but judge by temperature rather than the clock: 160-165F at the centre. Keep the water at a bare simmer — a hard boil makes the mousse rise, then collapse and weep.
- The rabbitA young farmed rabbit of 2.5-3 lb yields roughly a pound of usable meat from the saddle and hind legs. Wild rabbit is leaner and stronger flavoured and will want extra butter or cream in the mix.
- The missing centreBorders of this kind were generally filled with a creamed ragout — button mushrooms, peas, or the braised forelegs and offcuts in a velouté made from the stock-pot bones. On the quantities here, roughly six first-course portions or four as a main.
Dishes built in a border mould and served with the sauce or ragout heaped in the middle were a staple of the late-Victorian and Edwardian table, where the visual architecture of a course mattered nearly as much as its flavour. The technique here is straight out of the French repertoire — a mousseline of pounded meat, egg and béchamel, steamed rather than baked so it stays pale and tender — and the personal name in the title follows the common practice of the period of dedicating a preparation to a woman, real or invented, in the manner of à la Dubarry or à la Maintenon. Rabbit was cheap and plentiful in Britain then, farmed and wild alike, and appears throughout Cassell's in everything from plain stews to elaborate entrées like this one; the instruction to send the lesser parts to the stock-pot reflects a kitchen where nothing was thrown away and the trimmings became the sauce that filled the ring.