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Rabbit, Stewed Whole

Skin, empty, and wash a rabbit, and soak it in lukewarm water for half an hour. Drain and dry it, and fill it with a forcemeat prepared as follows. Boil the liver for a quarter of an hour. Mince it finely, and mix with it three ounces of finely-shred beef suet, two ounces of grated bread-crumbs, a tea-spoonful of chopped parsley, half a tea-spoonful of mixed sweet herbs, a little pepper and salt, and a little milk. Sew the rabbit up securely, truss firmly for roasting, and lay three or four slices of fat bacon upon it. Bake in a brisk oven for twenty minutes. Cut two ounces of bacon into dice, and fry these in an ounce of butter with a carrot and two onions till they are lightly browned. Dredge a table-spoonful of flour over them, and add a pint of stock or water, a dessert-spoonful of vinegar, half a tea-spoonful of mixed mustard, and a little pepper and salt. Put the rabbit and bacon into this sauce, and let them simmer gently until quite tender. Lay the rabbit on a dish, and keep it hot. Rub the vegetables through a sieve, mix the pulp again with the gravy, let it boil up, pour it over the rabbit, and serve very hot. Time to stew the rabbit, an hour and a half. Probable cost of rabbit, 7d. to 9d. per pound. Sufficient for four or five persons.