I'd never had rabbit before. Indeed, when I mentioned that I was giving this a go on Saturday, both my parents independently launched into their tales of trauma and woe where rabbit was concerned. Which, obviously, was the ideal backdrop to this meal!
The recipe for this one comes from Delia. I got it from her website, so have no idea which book, if any, it comes from. The rabbit itself came from Tebay.
The meal was quick and easy to prepare, involving a fairly large number of ingredients but few that we didn't have in stock anyway (and most of those were for the stuffing). Eventually, it would up in the oven for about 40 minutes, giving a total of almost exactly 100 minutes from start to finish. I could probably cut that down if I did it again.
When the time came to eat the meal, though, it proved to be slightly less enjoyable. Our overall impression was that it was quite nice, but rather too much effort to be worthwhile - getting the meat off the bones proved to be a task in itself. (For what it's worth, the accompaniments were very much the highlight of the meal - the stuffing in particular was a winner. The one thing that really didn't work for me was the sauce for the rabbit.)
(I was also struck by the similarity in flavour between rabbit and venison, despite being significantly different animals. I find myself wondering if that is due to a commonality in the diets or if it is to do with the muscles being well worked. Anyway, it was interesting enough to mention, I thought, even if it didn't really fit anywhere in the post.)
My bottom line was that I'd be willing to have rabbit again, but probably in a pie or similar form, and that I probably won't cook it myself - basically, if I can get someone else to deal with the hassle of taking it off the bones, that'll do me.
#40: "Pathfinder: Midwives to Death", by John Compton
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