Should I be a bunny boiler?

The Sweeper

Okay so I couldn't resist making it look like a thread on Personal Issues.

I currently have in my freezer one large bunny, as presented by my neighbour. This is a mature domestic-reared rabbit that's been bred specifically for the pot, but due to unforseen circumstances it was probably allowed get a little bigger/older than might have been optimal.

Still, it's just the one bunny. Now I would hold Tamasin Day-Lewis' advice to heart, and remember the ultimate combination of rabbits, prunes and bacon, only being in this part of Australia it's hard for me to get decent bacon - be that smoked or unsmoked rashers or anything else.

Keeping that in mind, what suggestions might anyone have for what I can do with this? As ever, I'm looking for either tried and tested recipes as opposed to a plain old Google, coz I can do that meself.

Minder

Rabbit pie or rabbit fricasse. A bit difficult because both dishes have bacon. Have you tried to get speck or pancetta from an Italian deli. Buy in a slab and cut as you need it. For either dish the rabbit should be boiled/simmered for about 40 minutes and then picked off the bone once cold.

Basically the rabbit pie is a cream, mustard, white wine sauce thickened with a roux. The cooked meat is added to the sauce and poured into a pie dish. Make some forcemeat balls with suet, breadcrumb, parsley, lemon rind and bacon (I know, you can't get bacon). Sit them on top of the sauce and cover with a pastry lid.

The fricasse is a similar sauce but has mushrooms with the rabbit - served with pasta.

If you want the details for these recipes, I can post exact ingredient amounts later.

If you have a big bunny, try using the loin fillets rolled in egg and breadcrumbs with thyme, and pan fried, before finishing in the oven. This takes a short time to cook and is excellent with some spuds, a green salad and a roast tomato sauce.

fits

Saw Clodagh McKenna do a rabbit stew with carrots, shallots (I think), honey and cider (lots of the latter two) recently on the Farmers Markets programme on RTE
There was bacon in there as well, but it sounds like it would be pretty nice without too.

The Sweeper

Let me explain on the bacon front - I can get it, but rashers look distinctly like that sort of shiny, pale pink sandwich ham you get in supermarket own-brand packs, if that conjures any images. They don't look raw.

In terms of Italian delis, I think I'll take a trip to the Victoria Market and pester their Italian counters before giving up on the prospect of pancetta.

Here's a question - do you reckon pancetta would freeze? Or would that be a total disaster? (The market's an hour's drive away and only open three days a week, is why I'm asking...)

The Hill Billy

On the basis that I've cooked rashers that I've had in the freezer I don't see why you couldn't freeze pancetta. Maybe chop it into meal-sized blocks before you freeze it?

As for a tried & trusted rabbit recipe:
1 rabbit jointed & dusted in seasoned flour
2 medium onions sliced thickly
3 carrots sliced thickly
3 sticks of celery sliced thickly
2 medium apples (the kind that will hopefully hold their shape when cooked)sliced
garlic (as many cloves as you like) sliced
bouquet garni
pint of good quality dry cider

Brown the rabbit pieces in some olive oil a casserole dish then remove & set to one side.
Add a drop more oil if necessary & gently fry the onions until slightly coloured.
Return rabbit to dish & add remaining ingredients apart from the apples.
Cook in oven at 180C for 45 mins.
If not enough liquid - add some chicken or veg stock.
Lay apple slices on top & cook for a further 30 mins.
Serve with spuds.


Edit: This also works very well with Pheasant.

Alun

On the freezing bacon front ... years ago when I lived "on the continent" I'd stock up on things like bacon when I had the chance and froze it. It was OK for a while, but if you kept it in the freezer for too long it had a strange effect on the fat and gave it a strange taste. We're not talking massively long periods of time here, maybe a few months at most, but it was certainly noticeable.

The Sweeper

I may try different brands and packs of bacon from our supermarket then. There might be a cut in there somewhere that doesn't taste of little or nothing but salt and water. I can buy belly pork strips - they call them "rashers" here, but they're very thick. Can anyone identify if the bacon is in there for the flavour from the fat, or flavour from bacon?

The Hill Billy

I'd have though that it was for the fat as rabbit, & game in general, has a very low fat content. The "barding" of pheasant, grouse, etc. with rashers is quite common in roasting recipes, as frying lardons is in game casseroles & stews.

bonkey

Yeah - I'm pretty sure its to make up for the low fat content.

Have a recipe at home for a rabbit marinade which works a treat and requires no bacon. I'll see if I can remember to dig it out this evening.

Minder

In both the recipes i have for rabbit, the bacon is for flavour not fat. The rabbit is simmered to take the meat off the bones - that will keep the meat moist. The meat is added to a sauce - no need for additional fat here, so it must be for flavour.

Also the forcemeat balls need bacon to add flavour to what would otherwise be a ball of breadcrumbs with suet.

As most pancetta or speck is dry cured, it will keep much longer than wet cured side hams or belly from which rashers are cut. Ask at an Italian deli how long a block of pancetta will keep in the fridge.

As other posters have mentioned, bacon used for barding is primarily there to add fat to prevent the game from drying out while roasting.