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Rabbit, Boiled

This is the usual and one of the most acceptable ways of dressing rabbits. Choose moderately young rabbits, skin, draw, and wash them. Truss them with the heads skewered to the sides, drop them into boiling water, and let them simmer gently until done enough. Drain them, and serve either with onion, liver, white, or mushroom sauce, or parsley and butter. The first of these is generally preferred. Send boiled bacon to table with the boiled rabbits, or garnish the dish with rashers of broiled bacon. The flesh of a boiled rabbit will be rendered more juicy and tender if it is soaked in milk and water for a couple of hours before being boiled. Its flavour, too, will be improved if an onion, a carrot, a bunch of sweet herbs, a blade of mace, half a dozen peppercorns, and a little salt are put into the water with it. Time to simmer the rabbits, thirty to forty-five minutes, according to age and size. A very young rabbit will be done enough in twenty-five minutes. Probable cost, 7d. to 9d. per pound. Sufficient, two rabbits for five or six persons.