Civet sauce?

[Briarhill]

I had a wonderful birthday dinner last week at Joël Restaurant here in Atlanta. In perusing their latest online menu, I noticed the following item:

roast hare tenderloin, mushroom cannellonis, civet sauce 28

Had it been on the menu last week, I would certainly have asked what the heck "civet sauce" is. A fairly extensive Google search only revealed that it is frequently thickened with hare blood. eG has several mentions, but no specifics.

Certainly we're not talking about, um, pieces of civet (banned in this country because of the recent outbreaks of SARS). Is it the musk they're referring to? Or, perhaps, some traditional sauce that has become associated with roast bunny?

Inquiring minds need to know ...

[carswell]

Civet is a stew, not a sauce, traditionally made from game (wild rabbit, wild boar, venison, etc.), pearl onions and lardons (bacon chunks). The braising liquid is typically red wine with some of the animal's blood being added as a thickener at the end.

[Wolfert]

Carswell is absolutely correct.

I would add that the success of wonderful civet of hare relies on : (1) cutting the hare properly so that the flesh will not dry out during cooking (2) slow cooking, which inhibits toughening of the flesh; (3) using plenty of pork fat to lubricate the flesh; (4) using a good, full-bodied red wine, solid enough to hold its flavor during the long, mostly unattended cooking; and (5) enriching the sauce with the hare’s blood and liver which will give it a strong, earthy taste.

[jackal10]

According to Alan Davidson in the Oxford Companion to food, quoting "Menagiere de Paris" (14th century) civet sauce has the essential features of fried onions and thickened with breadcrumbs (cives meaning onions, as in chives)

By the 17th century the only common civet dish was civet de lievre, or jugged hare, thickened with blood. By extension the term was applied to any blackish sauce.

The modern meaning is more of a cooking method: en civet meaning cooked in red wine with onions and strips of larding bacon, and then the sauce reduced or thickened. Although originally "grande cuisine" now they are more a rustic dish, often game but also goose giblets and in some place fish and robust seafood such as abalone.

I expect your chef was making a reference to the classical jugged hare dish, and I would expect a red wine and onion sauce, possibly thickened with the blood and liver of the hare.

Edited March 28, 2005 by jackal10 (log)

[mnebergall]

For what it's worth, I thought a civit was a spotted skunk.

[Briarhill]

Thanks to everyone who responded. This is such a great community!

[Briarhill]

For what it's worth, I thought a civit was a spotted skunk.

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Yep, more or less:

The reason for my disgruntlement is that I work at the Centers for Disease Control Prevention and am in charge of the current civet embargo (due to SARS). It really piqued my curiosity when I ran across that menu entry!

[FaustianBargain]

I had to smile when I read this. I remember one of your replies to an old thread of mine. Something about chocolate in stews for texture and to thicken rather than for the taste and flavour, iirc. I too was slightly confused when the word 'civet' was used then.

It has been a long journey.

Thanks, ya'll!

Carswell is absolutely correct.

I would add that the success of wonderful civet of hare relies on : (1) cutting the hare properly so that the flesh will not dry out during  cooking (2) slow cooking, which inhibits toughening of the flesh; (3) using plenty of pork fat to lubricate the flesh; (4) using a good, full-bodied red wine, solid enough to hold its flavor during the long, mostly unattended cooking; and (5) enriching the sauce with the hare’s blood and liver which will give it a strong, earthy taste.

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Edited March 29, 2005 by FaustianBargain (log)