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Stewed Rabbits
515. Wash a couple of rabbits well in warm water, cut them up in joints, and put them into a saucepan with enough of water, or broth if you have it, to cover them. Put in a bunch of parsley and thyme, and a fine large onion peeled. Stew gently for three hours, with a little mace, and pepper and salt. When ready to dish up put the meat into your tureen, and thicken the broth with flour and milk, before pouring it over the meat. The bunch of herbs should be taken out, but any particles which have broken off may be left in.
FRENCH STEW OF RABBITS (AMERICAN.) 516. Having cut up the rabbits, lay the pieces in cold water to soak out the blood, then wash in another water; season, put them in a jar, adding chopped celery, sweet marjoram, and tarragon leaves; mix in a little ham or tongue, and add a teacup of water and two glasses of sherry. Cover the jar closely, set it over the fire in a kettle of cold water, and let it stew slowly two hours; thicken with butter and flour. Hare and venison may be stewed in the same way. You may substitute rich cream for the wine.
Two related stews sit side by side here: a plain English one thickened with flour and milk, and an American "French" version cooked sealed in a jar set in a pan of water. Both were written for wild rabbit, which is where most of the adjustment lies.
- Cooking time is the hingeThree hours suits a tough old wild rabbit; a farmed rabbit of 2-3 lb will be dry and stringy well before then. Check the hind legs at 45 minutes and expect them done between one hour and 90 minutes, when the meat pulls easily from the bone.
- Two rabbits, and what that feedsA pair of dressed rabbits is roughly 3-5 lb of bone-in meat depending on whether they are wild or farmed, enough for four to six. Jointing means two front legs, two hind legs, and the saddle cut across into two or three pieces; the ribcage goes in for flavour.
- "A little mace"Blade mace is the outer casing of nutmeg, warmer and less sweet. A single blade, or a scant quarter teaspoon of ground mace, is right for this quantity; more turns the broth perfumed.
- Thickening with flour and milkWhisk the flour into cold milk to a smooth slurry before it goes near the pot, then simmer the sauce two or three minutes to cook out the raw starch. About 2 tablespoons flour to a cup of milk gives a gravy that coats.
- The tureenA deep covered serving dish, warmed first. If you dish the meat this way, keep it covered while you finish the sauce or it will cool fast.
- The jar in a kettle of cold waterIn the second recipe this is a water bath, not direct heat: the jar is set in a pan of water that is brought up to a bare simmer. Use a lidded ovenproof crock or a Dutch oven set in a larger pan, and keep the outer water below a rolling boil so the contents stew rather than boil.
- Teacups and glassesA teacup here is about 1/2 cup. A wine glass of the period runs 2 to 2 1/2 fl oz, so two glasses of sherry is roughly 1/2 cup. Use a dry amontillado rather than a sweet cream sherry.
- Soaking to draw the bloodA standard step with wild game, where blood in the joints darkens and strengthens the flavour. It does nothing for farmed rabbit and can be skipped.
- The ham or tongueA small amount, perhaps 2 oz chopped, is there for salt and body. Season the rabbit lightly at the start and correct the salt at the end, once the cured meat has given up what it will.