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Rabbit, Piquant

Skin, draw, and thoroughly cleanse a fresh young rabbit. Cut it open down all its length, lay it flat upon a table, and skewer it well to keep it in shape. Sprinkle a little pepper and salt over it, and lay it in an oval pan just large enough to hold it, with five or six ounces of bacon fat, dripping, or butter. Fry it till it is three-parts done. Take it up, drain it, and let it cool, brush over with oiled butter, and egg and bread-crumb it twice. A little time before it is wanted, put it into a brisk oven, and bake until it is lightly browned. Serve on a hot dish, and send to table with a little piccalilli, or any other suitable pickle, and a sauce prepared as follows. Pound three shallots in a mortar, and with them a tea-spoonful of chopped tarragon, and a little pepper, salt, and un-mixed mustard. Two or three gherkins, and a little chopped chervil and burnet, may be added if they are at hand. Beat the raw yolk of an egg in a basin, and when it begins to thicken stir in very gradually six table-spoonfuls of salad oil. The oil must be added first in drops, afterwards in tea-spoonfuls, and the sauce must be well beaten between every addition until it is very thick. Stir in by degrees two table-spoonfuls of vinegar, one table-spoonful of chilli vinegar, and the pounded mixture, and beat it again. Keep the sauce in a cool place till wanted, and serve in a tureen. If tarragon-leaves cannot be had, a tea-spoonful of tarragon vinegar may be used. Time, ten minutes to fry a small rabbit; twenty minutes to bake it. Probable cost of rabbit, 7d to 9d. per pound. Sufficient for two or three persons.