Home › The Principles of Cookery › Rabbit, Smothered with Onions

Rabbit, Smothered with Onions

Skin and empty a rabbit, and remove the eyes. Dry it well, and truss it firmly. Put ten or twelve large onions into a saucepan with three quarts of water. When this boils, put in the rabbit, and let all simmer gently together until both rabbit and onions are sufficiently done. Take out the onions, mince them, and put them into a clean saucepan with a slice of fresh butter, a table-spoonful of flour, a spoonful of milk, and a tea-spoonful of white pepper. Mix these ingredients thoroughly over a gentle fire to form a puree. Put the rabbit on a hot dish, and remove the skewers; pour the onion puree over it, and serve very hot. Rabbit smothered with onions is sometimes stuffed with veal forcemeat, but this is not common. This dish should always be accompanied with boiled bacon, or boiled pickled pork. Excellent pea soup may be made of the rabbit broth, or if this is not required the rabbit broth will prove a valuable addition to stock. Time to boil the rabbit, three-quarters of an hour to an hour and a quarter, according to the size. Probable cost of rabbits, 7d. to 9d. per pound. Sufficient, one medium-sized rabbit for three or four persons.