Paula Wolfert’s Civet of Hare

[John S.]

My question is: Is this something you could do?

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I wouldn't even entertain eating blood.

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Why not? I'm just curious.

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Can't put my finger on it. Same reason I wouldn't drink pee, I guess. I know their both sterile and all. It's just a bit revolting. Now when I eat meat it must have _some_ blood in there, so maybe it's an ill-founded emotion-based preference. Would you drink a small cup of blood? That's what's happening if you eat dinuguan or a civet sauce.

[Adam Balic]

My question is: Is this something you could do?

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I wouldn't even entertain eating blood.

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Why not? I'm just curious.

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Can't put my finger on it. Same reason I wouldn't drink pee, I guess. I know their both sterile and all. It's just a bit revolting. Now when I eat meat it must have _some_ blood in there, so maybe it's an ill-founded emotion-based preference. Would you drink a small cup of blood? That's what's happening if you eat dinuguan or a civet sauce.

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I wouldn't eat a cup of raw chcicken meat, but it doesn't mean I wouldn't eat a cooked chicken.

[Daniel]

Speak of the devil. I just made rabbit the other night.. I was more excited to work with a rabbit then grossed out.. I think the only time I would have a problem is if I had one for a pet. And in that case, I would not eat that particular rabbit, but any other would be fair game...

The liver was added to bread crumbs and combined in the sauce..

[docsconz]

Speak of the devil. I just made rabbit the other night.. I was more excited to work with a rabbit then grossed out.. I think the only time I would have a problem is if I had one for a pet. And in that case, I would not eat that particular rabbit, but any other would be fair game...

The liver was added to bread crumbs and combined in the sauce.. 

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Did you use the blood?

[docsconz]

My question is: Is this something you could do?

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I wouldn't even entertain eating blood.

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Why not? I'm just curious.

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Can't put my finger on it. Same reason I wouldn't drink pee, I guess. I know their both sterile and all. It's just a bit revolting. Now when I eat meat it must have _some_ blood in there, so maybe it's an ill-founded emotion-based preference. Would you drink a small cup of blood? That's what's happening if you eat dinuguan or a civet sauce.

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Thanks for answering. This clearly is a matter of personal preference and therefore not a question of right or wrong. My point of view is that blood is an edible and nutritious part of an animal just like the muscle or other organs. I may or may not enjoy blood in specific preparations or raw, but I would not a priori say I would never eat it. I have infact eaten it a number of different ways and in different recipes although not often. I see the situation as no different than someone not eating any particular part of an animal or kind of animal other than for specific religious or ethical reasons. Once again, I appreciate your honest response.

[Daniel]

Speak of the devil. I just made rabbit the other night.. I was more excited to work with a rabbit then grossed out.. I think the only time I would have a problem is if I had one for a pet. And in that case, I would not eat that particular rabbit, but any other would be fair game...

The liver was added to bread crumbs and combined in the sauce.. 

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Did you use the blood?

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No, but I would prefer to have the blood.. Its all part of the animal and all good..

Edited October 17, 2005 by Daniel (log)

[Megan Blocker]

I will never forget the first time I had rabbit - or, more accurately, lapin . I was in France for the summer, doing a brief home-stay with a family in Montpellier. We drove inland to visit the mother's extended family, who lived on a farm somewhere in the countryside (no town around - don't remember exactly which direction we headed in from Montpellier). The afternoon we got there, they took me on a tour of the farm - I saw the cherry orchard (fresh cherries warm from the sun - yum), the vegetable garden, and so on. Then I saw the bunny pen. It honestly did not even occur to me that we were going to eat rabbit for dinner, so when they asked me which one was my favorite, I picked the cutest one.

Guess what ended up on the plate? And in what I discovered later was a civet sauce (I described it to my mom, and she told me what was in it). In all honesty, I have no problem with the fact that I picked my dinner (though had I known, I would have gone for an uglier, less friendly bunny) or that it was killed that day. But as a result of the weirdness of the experience (the family were very odd in many ways - not just culturally different - and I was pretty worn out by the strangeness of it all at that point), I've never been one for anything resembling that dish.

I would be more likely to make a civet sauce (no real queasiness issues) than to eat it, but more because of its associations with that whole strange experience (I slept on a landing that weekend, for starters) than the dish itself.

Edited to add: I will eat rabbit, though I rarely choose it off of a menu.

Edited October 17, 2005 by Megan Blocker (log)

[docsconz]

Interesting story, Megan. It's funny how food associations get made. Most are probably formed early on.

[Darcie B]

Well, I seem to be one of the few people who grew up on a farm and witnessed a lot of butchering. I often helped my mother and grandmother butcher chickens. My grandmother would hack their heads off with a none-too-sharp knife and we would "bleed" them by letting them flap and fly around. I am sure many would think a headless chicken flying into a barn with blood spattering everywhere would traumatize a child, but it was fascinating to me. (One might also think it would bruise the meat but it never seemed to be a problem). I frequently stared intently at the chicken's head, its mouth soundlessly opening and closing for many seconds after its decapitation.

I also would gingerly step on cow's stomachs that were lying in the sun becoming bloated. I wanted to pop one but didn't really have the guts (sorry) to just jump on it. I remember my grandfather slitting the cow's throat to let it bleed after it had been shot in the head. I felt kinda sorry for the cow, but looked forward to the wonderful meat we would be eating all winter. Damn, that was good beef!

However, I was never the one wielding the knife (we stopped butchering ourselves when I was in my early teens). I am sure I could decapitate a chicken, but don't know if I could kill a rabbit. If someone else dispatched it, I might be able to bleed it. I think my hesitation comes from the fact that it is a cute, furry widdle mammal and too closely associated with my pets.

[Aileen]

I couldn't do it. Well, I could do it, I just wouldn't. No way. I enjoy eating meat, and my parents raised various animals for food while I was growing up, but I wouldn't kill/dress an animal unless I (or my children) was truly starving. I have a difficult time even cooking clams and mussels, knowing they're alive! Yes, I'm a hypocrite.

Oh, and I don't eat blood, either. That aversion comes from my mother, it was drilled into my head from an early age that it's "un-Christian" to eat blood. I haven't been able to get over it, though I do like my steak medium-rare...

[jgm]

I am sure I could decapitate a chicken, but don't know if I could kill a rabbit. If someone else dispatched it, I might be able to bleed it. I think my hesitation  comes from the fact that it is a cute, furry widdle mammal and too closely associated with my pets.

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I've recently had a similar issue arise. Last spring, the ugliest fowl I have ever seen, appeared in a fenced-in but wild area across the street from our house. Turned out he was a muscovy duck, apparently unable to fly. Although there was plenty of opportunity for him to forage, he preferred to stand at the fence, looking lonely and pathetic, waiting for someone to come and feed him. I thought I was the only one he begged from, until I happened to be walking the two-block stretch of fence, and found several small piles of food along its length, just inside the fence. But I continued to feed him, and he was always there, first thing in the morning, and again at suppertime. I loved it that he wagged his tail when he saw me coming, and so did all of the neighbors. At the end of July, he abruptly disappeared, and I suspect he became dinner for one of the wild animals that passes through there occasionally. I was surprised at how much I missed him.

I'll eat duck again, but not soon. I don't have any philosophical problems with it, but I miss my buddy!

[Mallet]

I would have no problem with this at all, except that blood as a thickener never seems to work for me (it usually ends up coagulating into a ugly brown mess)!

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Hmmm. Do you spike the blood with a bit of vinegar? Also, do you warm the blood by adding an equal quantity of hot braising liquid to it a tablespoonful at a time? And once the warmed blood is added to the pot, do you heat it gently, briefly and never to — let alone beyond — the simmering point?

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So you can't just add cold blood to a pan sauce? Who knew . Next time, I'll do it right.

[Daniel]

Very interesting, yesterday I was making duck soup.. I stopped to talk to my doorman to ask him if he wanted to dinner as I normally do.. I told him I was having duck soup.. He then asked how I was preparing it and after I told him I was using vanilla he scoffed and started to tell me how they cook duck and chicken soup in Poland.. And part of his recipe included mixing the blood with flour and vinegar to thicken the soup.. It was interesting that he complained he couldnt get blood here at most places.. It made me think of this topic..

[MT-Tarragon]

Mmm, rabbits. I love them.

I love to eat them.

I love to hear their little bones go crunch between my teeth.

I didn't grow up hunting and butchering animals, but I have done it. So I guess I'm not all that squeamish. I figured it would be a good learning experience and it was/is. I haven't used blood in a recipe, but I would try it.

[sazji]

I have to admit to being one of those who will eat animals, even clean animals, but I don't like to kill them, and don't like to watch it happening. I had to help slaughter rabbits once (my job was to hold their feet) and I still get the willies thinking about it. But once it's done, I have no problem cleaning it, cutting it up and making stifado. One thing that still gives me the creeps, and which I can't watch, is when they are cleaning lamb heads at the market. They're dead, they don't feel anything, but when they slice those lips off, I feel it inside me somewhere... Oddly, for that job, I think I could handle it if I were doing it myslef, but don't like to watch someone else doing it.

Am I weird?

Edited October 31, 2005 by sazji (log)

[Jonathan Day]

Black puddings / boudins noirs?

Farid or others knowledgeable about halal and kosher rules: if the blood is cooked into a black pudding, does that make it OK? Of course I should have added: if the blood had been taken from something other than a pig...

[John S.]

Am I weird?

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No, you're normal.

[daniellewiley]

Very interesting, yesterday I was making duck soup..  I stopped to talk to my doorman to ask him if he wanted to dinner as I normally do.. I told him I was having duck soup..  He then asked how I was preparing it and after I told him I was using vanilla he scoffed and started to tell me how they cook duck and chicken soup in Poland.. And part of his recipe included mixing the blood with flour and vinegar to thicken the soup..  It was interesting that he complained he couldnt get blood here at most places.. It made me think of this topic..

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Our local Polish joint makes Duck Blood Soup (Czarnina) every Tuesday. I've never tried it, but my father-in-law loves it.