No. 2142

Young Rabbit Roasted and Larded

Levraut Pique et Roti

Suppress the skin from the back and hind legs of a good, trimmed rabbit; fill the body with a bread forcemeat (No. 61), with cooked fine herbs (No. 385) and chopped truffles mixed with a third as much liver baking forcemeat (No. 64); sew up the opening. Break the bone of the thick thigh part so as to be able to bend the legs under and keep them in position while trussing; truss also the fore legs and the head, keeping the latter upright. Lard the back and thighs with larding pork (No. 3, Fig. 52). Lay the rabbit on a spit, maintaining it in position with skewers, and roast it for thirty to forty minutes, basting over frequently with butter, and when done salt it over. Remove, untruss, and dress on a dish; serve separately some clear gravy (No. 404), also a light sharp sauce (No. 538).

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For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer wrote this for a professional brigade with a numbered reference system, a spit and a larding needle. The dish translates well to a home oven provided you deal with the leanness of the animal and the stuffed cavity.

What the animal actually isLevraut is a young hare, not a rabbit; the English title in The Epicurean uses the two loosely. Farmed rabbit, 2 1/2 to 3 lb dressed, behaves much the same but is paler and blander. A whole hare will be darker, stronger and drier.
The numbered cross-referencesNothing here is self-contained. No. 61 is a bread forcemeat, No. 385 cooked fine herbs, No. 64 a liver baking forcemeat, No. 3 the larding pork, No. 404 a clear gravy and No. 538 a light sharp sauce. Substitute a good bread-and-liver stuffing and a sharp brown sauce if you do not have the full book.
The hinge: fatHare and rabbit carry almost no intramuscular fat, and the saddle goes to string within minutes of overcooking. Larding the back and thighs with strips of pork fat is not decoration; if you skip it, bard the whole animal with thin sheets of fatback or caul fat instead and keep basting.
Spit to ovenRoast at 425F on a rack over a pan, turning and basting with butter every eight to ten minutes. Thirty to forty minutes suits a small hare; a 3 lb farmed rabbit may want closer to fifty. The forelegs and head are trussed mainly for the old table presentation and can be omitted.
Doneness, and the stuffingBecause the body is filled, judge by the forcemeat as well as the meat: the center of the stuffing should reach 165F, which means the leg meat will land near 165-170F. Pack the cavity loosely so heat can get in, and expect the added mass to lengthen the roast.
TrufflesThe recipe calls simply for chopped truffles mixed into the forcemeat. Preserved truffle peelings or a small amount of good truffle in its own juice is the honest modern substitute; truffle oil is not.
Salt at the endThe recipe salts the animal only once it is done. Seasoning the forcemeat properly matters more, since the meat itself gets none until it comes off the heat.
YieldOne young hare or a small rabbit with stuffing serves two generously, three at a formal table where it is one course among many. Carve the saddle into medallions and separate the legs.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer published The Epicurean in 1894 after decades as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and the book is essentially the kitchen's working repertoire set down as a numbered system, which is why almost every recipe points elsewhere. Hare and rabbit occupy a substantial section, both being familiar market game at the time and sold whole with the head on; the upright head and folded legs of this preparation belong to the French manner of serving levraut whole. Larding with pork fat was a standard answer to lean game before covered roasting and low-temperature cooking became common, and the pairing of a clear gravy with a separate sharp, vinegar-edged sauce follows the long French habit of cutting rich game with acidity. The English title here says rabbit where the French says levraut, a young hare.