Rabbit

[albiston]

PCL,

the recipe you're looking for is coniglio alla cacciatora, if you do a google search for rabbit cacciatora (or chicken cacciatora which is practically the same thing) you'll find many possible variants of the basic recipe which is pretty much what you describe. Depending on where you are in Italy you might have caccatora made with a dash of vinegar, with cayenne pepper, with olives, olives and tomatoes and even recipes calling for red wine to replace the white one.

[carswell]

Your recipe sounds fine, though I'd recommend a couple of changes. Start by browning the rabbit over medium heat (the lack of skin means high heat tends to make the surface of the meat dry and stringy), removing the pieces as they brown. When finished, throw out all but a tablespoon or two of the fat, then soften and, if desired, brown the onion and garlic in what remains. Add the rabbit, seasonings and white wine to the pot. Let the wine bubble a minute, then cover the pot and turn down the heat to very low; you want the gentlest of simmers. Cook 30-40 minutes turning the meat 2 or 3 times.

You could also omit the onion and simply use a couple of smushed garlic cloves to add savour. In that case, discard them at the end, remove the rabbit to a platter, add a few tablespoons of cold water to the pan, turn the heat to high and stir and scrape until the sauce is emulsified and syrupy. Pour over the rabbit and serve.

Other variations I like: replace the rosemary with sage; replace some or all of the white wine with lemon juice.

Have never heard of boning for sautés and fricassees, by the way.

[PCL]

Grazie mille a tutti!

It is good to be almost correct. I'm not sure about tomato etc, but I'm pretty much wedded to the simple 4 ingredient approach.

I shall cook a bunny this week, and serve it with an old Chianti...<now where the hell I'm gonna find one of those??> I can dream, but more likely a nice Rhone style drop.

[divina]

The technique is called Arrosto Morto, a stove top style of cooking commonly used here.

Sounds good,as always there are variations...

I use a branch of rosemary or sage, whole garlic clove or two..

Brown rabbit in oil with herbs and garlic.

When brown, splash with white wine ( or red) season with salt,cover and cook stove top until rabbit is tender.

If rabbit dries out, add some more wine.. or broth or water...in small amounts, scraping any lovely brwon bits!!!

My friends mom adds pancetta bits which I really like!

I also say let the rabbit sit in the pot and its sauce for awhile before serving, then remove the rabbit, reduce the sauce and put the rabbit back in just before serving!

Bon Appetito!

This same technique,with the addition of tomato sauce, was the original Cacciatore, where the sauce was served on the pasta.. no meat..( not enough money to have meat as a first course and main course) and then the meat was served as the main course, flavoring the tomato sauce with its lovely infusion!

Sometimes called sugo al pollo scappato ( ragu with runaway chicken)

[PCL]

Grazie grazie...

penso che questa ricetta da divina e la piatta della 'Mama Rita' in Forte dei Marmi...

lo provero questa weekend!

Trans:

Thanks and thanks!

I think divina's recipe is the dish from 'Mama Rita' in Forte dei Marmi (small holiday town near Viareggio). I'll give it a go this weekend.

Edit: to add translation

Edited July 18, 2005 by PCL (log)

[ingbakko]

Hy ... My origin are from Liguria, there rabbit is special celebration dish, my grandmom and then my mom and now myself we prepare rabbit for special occasions. All the receipts posted looks execellent, in Liguria we use to add pinoli (pine seeds - I hope they call like this in english) and olive taggiasche (olives kept in salty water). But the segret for the perfect rabbit is to leave it for 6 hours immersed into water and vinager (half and half) then wash and cook as you like....

Ciao

[divina]

There is also a great recipe for Tonno di coniglio.. from liguria???

where it is boiled in wine then packed in oil???

[PCL]

Do you de-bone the rabbit before boiling?? Or is it more like a prolonged poaching??...

and of course, ingbakko, bienvenuto a eGullet!!

[divina]

The rabbit is left whole... boiled for an hour in water with carrot, onion with cloves, celery, bay leaves.

Let cool in broth.

Pull meat off in big pieces, lightly salt and put in a bowl or jar, layering with sage, garlic, lemon juice and then cover with EV olive oil and let marinade.

Lovely in the summer... no rabbit, try chicken!

[ingbakko]

For this kind of preparation it's essential the quality of the meet and nowadays to find a real "ruspante" chicken or rabbit it's not that easy ..... It was a kind of preparation used in Liguria to conserve food for the sailors or the fishermans, oliv oil extra vergin (first pressure by gravity) from Imperia (only taggiasche olivs) and a rabbit not from industrial farming will do the rest.

Ciao

[divina]

Just posted the Tonno di Coniglio on my blog.

made it the other day and ate it today.

AS ingbakko says, using todays rabbits, are a little too delicate, but was ok.

I chopped the garlic and sage, and think it would have been better if I did it tradtionally and just put in whole leaves and whole garlic cloves.

Will try again with a Free Range Chicken.

[PCL]

What about an old hare shot by shotgun?? I know some people near Pietrasanta/Forte dei Marmi who regularly go off into the hills to shoot. If you're down that way, drop into the Gatto Nero in Pietrasanta, just next to the old city gate. Alessandro, the proprietor, knows of many purveyors/hunters in the area, but of course, do sit down and eat!!

[divina]

Old hare , LEPRE, is better for ragu. Too tough and too much dark meat for Tonno!

I want to live in PietraSanta.. will go by to eat!

[ninetofive]

I have a whole rabbit in my fridge that needs to be cut up for a recipe tonight. I thought one of my Time-Life Good Cook books had a butchering diagram, but alas, no.

Any cutting tips or a cookbook you could recommend that has good pictures?

[Gifted Gourmet]

basic cutting technique for rabbit ... hope it works out well!

[Really Nice!]

Also if you have a copy of The Zuni Cafe Cookbook, pages 411 - 413 describe how to cut up a rabbit. She (Judy Rodgers) also describes how to cook each of the pieces (i.e. braise the legs, grill the loin).

[ninetofive]

Excellent! Thanks for those tips.

[Shalmanese]

When I made it, I first took off the hind legs, disjointing them much like you would chicken legs. I then removed the cylindrical loin section, using a flexible boning knife to keep it nice and close to the bone. The rest was chopped up and used in a stew or you could make rabbit stock/demi-glace out of it.

[ninetofive]

I ended up doing an okay job of it, although I suspect I'd flunk on the loin section cuts. The meat was very tasty, but there wasn't much of it. It was either a slender rabbit, or we need to cook two (or more) for dinner next time.

[jsolomon]

Most rabbits are very slender. At the Bohemian Cafe in Omaha, I think they serve rabbit halves as a dinner, to give others an idea.

Great place, and great dish, but expecting one rabbit to feed four requires many sides.

[Shalmanese]

Also, theres no real easy way to portion a rabbit easily for 4 unless your doing a stew. Much easier to serve 2 incomplete rabbits for 4 and then do something else with the leftovers.

[ninetofive]

We had two adults plus a four-year-old for the rabbit and it wasn't nearly enough.

[The Hersch]

To me, there's just no getting around the fact that the rib section and the front legs are basically good for the stock pot and not much else. Rabbit does make a lovely stock, though. I cut the hind legs off, and then cut the loin section in two cross-wise, which gives me four serving pieces, or two servings--a leg and a piece of the loin each. For four people, I'd need two rabbits, and would get a beautiful stock to boot.

[trillium]

Oh, but then you'd miss out on the equivalent of rabbit bacon. The stuff hanging down off the ribs (rib flaps) after it's salted and left to dry in the fridge for a day or so, is really tasty grilled or fried (thanks Judy Rogers).

Rabbit makes a nice sugo type sauce for pasta too.

regards,

trillium

[The Hersch]

Mmmm...bacon. That sounds really good; I'll try it next time I have a rabbit. For those anywhere near Raleigh NC, there's a farm that sells meat, poultry, and eggs at the Raleigh farmers' market (I don't remember the name of the farm), and they usually have very nice fresh rabbits at really reasonable prices. Organically raised, too. Last weekend they were only asking $5 apiece.