Bones_ Recipes, History, and Lore - Jennifer McLagan [105]
Rabbit with Cider and Mustard Sauce
There are many recipes for the traditional combination of rabbit and mustard, but often by the time the rabbit is cooked, there is no mustard taste left; not so here. For offal lovers, the rabbit liver and kidneys are cooked separately and added at the end. Those who don’t appreciate them can skip this step: leave the kidneys attached to the saddle section of the rabbit, and keeping the rabbit’s liver for the Liver Dumplings (page 209), if desired.
1 rabbit, cut into 6 or 7 serving pieces, liver and kidneys reserved
Olive Oil Marinade (page 212), made with 2 tablespoons marjoram leaves (omit the thyme)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup (60 ml) Dijon mustard
1 cup (250 ml) hard cider
¼ cup (60 ml) heavy (35%) whipping cream
1 tablespoon chopped marjoram
2 cooking apples, such as Rome, Spy, Mutsu
3 tablespoons (45 g) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon sugar
Chopped flat-leaf parsley for garnish
1. Pat the rabbit pieces dry and place them in a baking dish just large enough to hold them in one layer. Pour over the marinade and turn the pieces to coat. Leave at room temperature for 1 hour, or refrigerate, covered, for several hours. If it has been refrigerated, remove the rabbit 1 hour before cooking so that it warms up to room temperature.
2. Preheat the oven 450°F (23o°C). Season the rabbit with salt and pepper, then transfer all the pieces except the hind legs to a plate; set these pieces aside. Stir together the mustard, ½ cup (125 ml) of the cider, the cream, and marjoram in a small bowl. Spoon a couple of spoonfuls of this mixture over the legs, and bake for 10 minutes.
3. Add the rest of the rabbit pieces to the dish. Spoon over some more of the cider-cream mixture and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 375°F (190°C), turn the pieces over, and baste again with more cream mixture. As you baste, scrape up any darker bits at the edges of the dish. Bake for another 30 minutes, basting and turning the pieces every 10 minutes. Once all the mustard mixture is used, baste with the juices in the dish, again scraping the browned bits from the edges of the dish into the sauce each time.
4. While the rabbit is cooking, peel, core, and quarter the apples, then cut into ¼-inch (5-mm) slices. Melt 2 tablespoons (30 g) of the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the sugar and apples and sauté until the apples are golden brown. Transfer the apples to a dish. Add the remaining ¼ cup (125 ml) cider to the frying pan and bring to a boil, deglazing the pan by scraping up the browned bits from the bottom. Remove from the heat.
5. After the rabbit has cooked for 30 minutes at 375°F (190°F), add the sautéed apples and cider to the dish (set the frying pan aside). Cook for another 10 minutes, or until the rabbit is very tender.
6. Meanwhile, cut the kidneys in half and slice the liver. Season them both with salt and pepper. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon butter in the same frying pan and sauté the kidneys and liver until just pink.
7. Scatter the kidneys and liver over the cooked rabbit, sprinkle with the parsley, and serve.
BURNT BONES
There are other uses for burnt bones besides china (see “Bone China,” page 219). When animal bones are burned with little or no air, several by-products result. Two of them, bone brown and bone black, are finely ground to make artist’s pigments. Bone black is also the main ingredient in the ink used for copperplate printing. Bone char or commercial charcoal, is used industrially to remove impurities from liquids and refine sugar.
Burning bones also creates a vile-smelling oil called Dippel’s oil, named after a German theologian and alchemist, Johann Dippel (1673-1734). Herr Dippel made a miscalculation while searching for the elixir of life, and discovered this malodorous oil instead. Unfortunately, the oil doesn’t prolong life but is still used in sheep