No. 2139

Young Rabbits, Valencia Style

Lapereaux a la Valence

Cut up in twelve pieces each, two skinned and drawn young rabbits; put half a pound of chopped fat pork in a sautoir, adding the rabbits when it is very hot and fry over a brisk fire, season with salt and pepper, and add also half a pound of blanched bacon cut in quarter inch squares, one medium onion cut the same size, four quartered, peeled and pressed tomatoes, and a bunch of parsley garnished with thyme, bay leaf, and a clove of garlic. Cover the saucepan and cook on a moderate fire; just when ready to serve, skim off the fat, suppress the parsley, and put in a little game glaze (No.398); dress and dredge chopped parsley over the top. Stiffen some small oiled cases in the oven, fill them with rabbit forcemeat (No.84), into which cooked fine herbs (No.385) have been added; place on top the minion fillet scored with truffles removed from the rabbit, and over these thin slices of fat pork; bake in a slow oven, drain off the fat, and lay a small glazed truffle in the center of each fillet; range these cases around the dish, and serve.

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For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes for a professional brigade with a larder of prepared stocks and forcemeats; stripped of the cross-references this is a straightforward rabbit braise with an optional garnish of stuffed cases.

The two halves of the dishThe braise stands alone and is the part worth cooking. The oiled paper cases filled with rabbit forcemeat, topped with truffled tenderloins, are restaurant garnish and can be omitted entirely without harming the dish.
SautoirA wide, straight-sided shallow pan — a modern saut e pan or a low braiser. You want the twenty-four pieces in close to a single layer so they brown rather than steam.
Fat pork and blanched baconThe half pound of chopped fat pork is the cooking fat: unsmoked salt pork or fatback, rendered until it is very hot. The second half pound, cut in quarter-inch lardons, is bacon dropped for two minutes in boiling water to pull out excess salt and smoke. Half a pound of each for two rabbits is generous by current taste; a quarter pound of each is plenty.
"Pressed" tomatoesQuartered, peeled, and squeezed to expel seeds and juice, so only the flesh goes in. Four medium tomatoes out of season are better replaced with a cup of drained canned plum tomatoes.
Cooking timeNo time is given. Young rabbit in twelve pieces, covered over moderate heat, takes 35 to 45 minutes; the loin pieces are done well before the forelegs and saddle-end. Pull pieces as they yield rather than cooking the whole to the slowest one.
Game glazeNo. 398 is game stock reduced to a syrup. A few tablespoons of well-reduced brown chicken or veal stock does the same work. Add it off the boil at the end — it is there for gloss and body, not to be cooked down again.
Oven temperatures"A slow oven" for the cases is roughly 300-325F. They are only setting the forcemeat and cooking thin fillets under a barding of fat pork, ten to fifteen minutes.
Minion filletsThe two small strips of tenderloin lying against the inside of the saddle — the rabbit equivalent of chicken tenders. "Scored with truffles" means slit shallowly and inlaid with slivers of truffle.
YieldTwo young rabbits serve four to six as a main course.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer published The Epicurean in 1894 after decades as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its rabbit chapter — which also covers hare and squirrel — reflects a period when rabbit, wild as often as domestic, was a familiar sight in American markets. The "Valencia style" label is often read as pointing at the Spanish combination of rabbit with pork fat, tomato, garlic, and herbs — the same pairing that anchors a Valencian paella, where rabbit and snails, not seafood, are the traditional meat — though Valence in France is an equally available referent. Nineteenth-century French kitchen naming was loose about such geography, and Ranhofer is signalling a flavor register more than reproducing a Spanish dish. The elaborate garnish of forcemeat-filled paper cases is in the grand restaurant manner: the braise was the food, and the ring of cases went around the platter.