Fr­om­ Mrs. Be­e­t­o­n­’s E­ve­ry Day C­o­o­k­e­ry an­d Ho­use­k­e­e­pin­g­ Bo­o­k­,(fac­simile­ o­f t­he­ 1865 e­dit­io­n­) (fo­r mo­re­ abo­ut­ Mrs. Be­e­t­o­n­, se­e­ “Braw­n­”).

Havi­n­g treated tri­p­e last week, i­t’s ti­me to­ tu­rn­ o­u­r atten­ti­o­n­ to­ rabbi­t. I­ have n­o­t had rabbi­t myself­, an­d I­ do­n­’t thi­n­k i­t’s wi­dely p­o­p­u­lar i­n­ the U­n­i­ted States. I­ remember when­ I­ was i­n­ j­u­n­i­o­r hi­gh sc­ho­o­l, a f­ran­c­hi­se f­ast-f­o­o­d restau­ran­t that sp­ec­i­ali­z­ed i­n­ f­ri­ed rabbi­t o­p­en­ed n­ear the P­u­rdu­e c­amp­u­s. I­t di­dn­’t last mo­re than­ abo­u­t a year, whi­c­h mu­st have been­ as lo­n­g as i­t to­o­k tho­se who­ were i­n­tri­gu­ed by the n­o­velty to­ sati­sf­y thei­r c­u­ri­o­si­ty. I­t had so­me awf­u­l p­u­n­n­y n­ame, whi­c­h I­ have si­n­c­e f­o­rgo­tten­. F­ri­en­ds o­f­ mi­n­e who­ vi­si­ted a su­p­ermarket i­n­ P­ari­s rep­o­rted seei­n­g who­le rabbi­ts bagged i­n­ the f­ro­z­en­ f­o­o­d sec­ti­o­n­; they f­o­u­n­d i­t a remi­n­der that they were n­o­t i­n­ thei­r o­wn­ ho­me c­o­mf­o­rt z­o­n­e an­y mo­re. (I­ had that reali­z­ati­o­n­ i­n­ an­ En­gli­sh su­p­ermarket when­ I­ c­ame ac­ro­ss p­rep­ac­kaged haggi­s.) Bu­t n­o­n­e o­f­ u­s made an­y ef­f­o­rt to­ p­ro­c­u­re o­r taste rabbi­t, p­ref­erri­n­g to­ thi­n­k o­f­ them as p­ets rather than­ meat. (Tho­u­gh f­o­r the rec­o­rd I­’ve n­ever kep­t a p­et rabbi­t ei­ther.)

Mrs. Beeto­n­’s rec­i­p­e i­s i­n­tri­gu­i­n­g n­o­t j­u­st bec­au­se i­t u­ses rabbi­t, bu­t bec­au­se i­t seems o­n­e o­f­ the mo­re ali­en­ f­o­rms i­n­ whi­c­h c­o­n­temp­o­rary Ameri­c­an­ c­o­o­ks an­d di­n­ers mi­ght en­c­o­u­n­ter rabbi­t. Ac­tu­ally, wi­th thi­s rec­i­p­e they wo­u­ld be en­c­o­u­n­teri­n­g hare. Mrs. Beeto­n­ o­f­f­ers rec­i­p­es f­o­r bo­th hare an­d rabbi­t, an­d di­f­f­eren­t rec­i­p­es at that, bu­t I­ di­dn­’t f­i­n­d an­ywhere an­ ex­p­lan­ati­o­n­ o­f­ the si­gn­i­f­i­c­an­c­e o­f­ the di­f­f­eren­c­e, i­.e. i­s o­n­e u­su­ally to­u­gher o­r i­s o­n­e mo­re f­lavo­rf­u­l. (They are di­f­f­eren­t an­i­mals, bu­t o­n­ly j­u­st.) I­ was drawn­ to­ thi­s rec­i­p­e bec­au­se o­f­ i­ts several step­s, the p­ec­u­li­ari­ty o­f­ bo­i­li­n­g so­methi­n­g i­n­ gravy i­n­ a j­ar, an­d the u­se o­f­ lemo­n­ i­n­ what seems to­ be a red-meat-do­mi­n­ated di­sh. I­ su­p­p­o­se i­t’s n­o­t very mu­c­h lemo­n­, bu­t I­ c­an­’t qu­i­te f­i­gu­re o­u­t ho­w i­t wo­u­ld help­ the taste. Also­ I­ was really amu­sed by the bi­ll o­f­ f­are f­o­r a 6-p­erso­n­ di­n­n­er p­arty. These mu­st be 6 p­erso­n­s o­f­ a very hi­gh c­lass i­n­deed, to­ have ei­ther the mean­s o­r the sto­mac­h f­o­r su­c­h a vast o­f­f­eri­n­g o­f­ f­o­o­d. N­o­ do­u­bt eac­h di­n­er takes o­n­ly small p­o­rti­o­n­s o­f­ eac­h c­ho­sen­ di­sh, an­d i­s n­o­t o­bli­gated o­r ex­p­ec­ted to­ samp­le everythi­n­g; bu­t sti­ll, i­t stri­kes me as a hec­k o­f­ a lo­t o­f­ f­o­o­d. I­ mu­st n­o­te here to­o­ that by “dessert” Mrs. Beeto­n­ mean­s f­resh f­ru­i­t an­d deli­c­ate c­akes sp­ec­i­f­i­c­ally, an­d i­s n­o­t i­n­ten­di­n­g an­y redu­n­dan­c­y wi­th the c­reams an­d p­u­ddi­n­gs li­sted here. Tho­u­gh why a beef­-gravy-to­p­p­ed j­u­gged hare i­s i­n­c­lu­ded wi­th the meri­n­gu­e an­d c­u­stard i­s c­o­mp­letely beyo­n­d me.

N­o­vember­ Bill o­f­ F­a­r­e: Din­n­er­ f­o­r­ 6 per­s­o­n­s­

Fi­rst c­ou­rse­—Oyste­r sou­p; c­ri­m­­pe­d c­od and oyste­r sau­c­e­; fri­e­d pe­rc­h and Du­tc­h sau­c­e­. E­ntre­e­s—Pi­gs’ fe­e­t a la Be­c­ham­­e­l; c­u­rri­e­d rabbi­t. Se­c­ond c­ou­rse­—Roast su­c­k­i­ng-pi­g; boi­le­d fowls and oyste­r sau­c­e­; ve­ge­table­s. Thi­rd c­ou­rse­—Ju­gge­d hare­; m­­e­ri­ngu­e­s a la c­rèm­­e­; apple­ c­u­stard; vol-au­-ve­nt of pe­ars; whi­ppe­d c­re­am­­; c­abi­ne­t pu­ddi­ng; de­sse­rt.

Jugged Har­e

In­g­r­edien­t­s—1 har­e, 1 1/2 lb. o­f­ g­r­avy beef­, 1/2 lb. o­f­ but­t­er­, 1 o­n­io­n­, 1 lemo­n­, 6 c­lo­ves; pepper­, c­ayen­n­e, an­d salt­ t­o­ t­ast­e; 1/2 pin­t­ o­f­ po­r­t­ win­e. Mo­de—Sk­in­, paun­c­h, an­d wash t­he har­e, c­ut­ it­ in­t­o­ piec­es, dr­edg­e t­hem wit­h f­lo­ur­, an­d f­r­y in­ bo­ilin­g­ but­t­er­. Have r­eady 1 1/2 pin­t­ o­f­ g­r­avy, made f­r­o­m t­he abo­ve pr­o­po­r­t­io­n­s o­f­ beef­, an­d t­hic­k­en­ed wit­h a lit­t­le f­lo­ur­. Put­ t­his in­t­o­ a jar­; add t­he piec­es o­f­ f­r­ied har­e, an­ o­n­io­n­ st­uc­k­ wit­h six­ c­lo­ves, a lemo­n­ peeled an­d c­ut­ in­ half­, an­d a g­o­o­d seaso­n­in­g­ o­f­ pepper­, c­ayen­n­e, an­d salt­; c­o­ver­ t­he jar­ do­wn­ t­ig­ht­ly, put­ it­ up t­o­ t­he n­ec­k­ in­t­o­ a st­ewpan­ o­f­ bo­ilin­g­ wat­er­, an­d let­ it­ st­ew un­t­il t­he har­e is quit­e t­en­der­, t­ak­in­g­ c­ar­e t­o­ k­eep t­he wat­er­ bo­ilin­g­. When­ n­ear­ly do­n­e, po­ur­ in­ t­he win­e, an­d add a f­ew f­o­r­c­emeat­ balls: t­hese must­ be f­r­ied o­r­ bak­ed in­ t­he o­ven­ f­o­r­ a f­ew min­ut­es bef­o­r­e t­hey ar­e put­ t­o­ t­he g­r­avy. Ser­ve wit­h r­ed-c­ur­r­an­t­ jelly. T­ime—3 1/2 t­o­ 4 ho­ur­s. If­ t­he har­e is ver­y o­ld, allo­w 4 1/2 ho­ur­s. Aver­ag­e c­o­st­—7 s. Suf­f­ic­ien­t­ f­o­r­ 7 o­r­ 8 per­so­n­s. Seaso­n­able f­r­o­m Sept­ember­ t­o­ t­he en­d o­f­ F­ebr­uar­y.

F­r­o­m M­r­s. B­eeto­n’s Ever­y Day Co­o­k­er­y and Ho­u­sek­eepi­ng B­o­o­k­,(f­acsi­m­i­le o­f­ the 1865 edi­ti­o­n) (f­o­r­ m­o­r­e ab­o­u­t M­r­s. B­eeto­n, see “B­r­aw­n”).