Rabbit - To Select

A rabbit, like almost every other kind of game, has a better taste when a little seasoned, but not too much so. As long as the body is rather stiff, it is good; but when soft, and when the flesh has a black-bluish appearance, it is necessary to examine it carefully, as it might be tainted. A young rabbit has soft paws, and are not much opened; but an old one has them open, hard, and worn out. The ears of a young one are very soft, while those of an old one are stiff and comparatively rough. The blood of the rabbit is a great improvement when mixed with the sauce or gravy accompanying it when served; therefore, we emphatically and earnestly ask of hunters, when they kill rabbits, to place them in their game-bags in such a position that the place where the shots have penetrated and through which the blood is escaping, be upward, and consequently stop the spilling of it.

Tame rabbits, unless they have been kept in a large place, well fed, free from any manure or dirt, and having also plenty of room to burrow in a dry soil, are very seldom fit to eat.

To Lard

The fleshy parts of a rabbit are larded with salt pork in the same way as described for a fillet of beef.

Baked

To bake it, it may be larded or not, according to taste. When cleaned and prepared as directed for game, place the rabbit in a baking-pan, with a few slices of onion and carrot; salt, pepper, and butter it; cover the bottom of the pan with cold water and set it in a quick oven. After ten or fifteen minutes, turn the rabbit over, baste and cover it with a piece of buttered paper. Continue basting till done. When about half done, if the water and juice are boiling away or absorbed, add more water or broth, and when done turn the gravy over the rabbit through a strainer, and serve with water-cress and a few drops of lemon-juice or vinegar.

It is also served with a cranberry, fines herbes, mushroom, piquante, ravigote, tomato, and truffle sauce.

In Chartreuse

A rabbit is prepared in chartreuse the same as a prairie-chicken; the only difference is, that it requires a larger mould; the rest of the process is the same.

In Civet, Or Stewed

Cut the rabbit in pieces, and fry them with a little butter till turning rather brown, when add half a pound of lean salt pork cut in dice; stir and fry two or three minutes, stir in also a tablespoonful of flour; one minute after add a half pint of broth, same of claret wine, salt, twelve small onions, and a bunch of seasonings, composed of three or four sprigs of parsley, one of thyme, a bay-leaf, a clove of garlic, one clove. Boil gently till done; throw away the bunch of seasonings, and serve warm. In case it is not handy to use claret wine, use a gill of Madeira, or Port, or Sherry wine, and one gill of water. Without wine at all it mates an inferior dish.

A civet made three or four days in advance, and warmed in a bain-marie for ten minutes, once every day, is better than if eaten as soon as made.

In case the sauce is becoming too thick, after warming the rabbit several times, add a little broth, and also a little butter; stir gently, and always serve as warm as possible.