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Mar. 19, 2006 Rabbit was always an important source of protein for humans throughout history. This locally abundant mammal reproduces rapidly providing fresh white meat year round for hawks, owls, foxes, bobcats, and other predators; however the population is cyclical and is usually more checked by disease than predation. Various species of rabbits and hares live in both the old and new world and perhaps the most common, the eastern cottontail, ranges all the way from southern Canada to Argentina. Cony Island literally means rabbit island so we can only imagine how common rabbits were here when the first colonists put a name on it. Unlike rabbits, chickens wre originally restricted to South Asia from India to Vietnam and were only a rare delicacy for the rest of the world until the eighteenth century when their domestication spread from Europe to North America. A few years ago I began seeing rabbit in the store and after some experimentation, I have concluded that rabbit tastes like chicken only it is better and juicier, maybe because of the solid bone structure. While it cooks, rabbit smells more like turkey than chicken, and I heartily recommend it. Just remember to trim the fat. There isn't much fat on a rabbit, but what little there is tastes a mite weird. Other than that, if I stripped the meat from the bone and prepared it with any one of the some thirty odd chicken recipes I use, I doubt anyone could tell the dish I had made was with rabbit and not chicken. An observant diner, however, would notice the difference in bone structure, if I cooked it bone in. I've been purchasing farm raised Florida rabbit, and they cut their rabbits into six pieces (and usually sell packages of half). There are the two hind legs, the mid sections which are like tenderloins with bone, and the front quarters which includes the shorter front leg and the ribs. The only drawback to rabbit is the price. It usually runs at least twice per pound as chicken and never goes on sale. Rabbit meat is good even better than chicken, but it is not twice as good. This unfortunate fact makes me wonder why rabbit is more expensive than chicken. Rabbits must be cheaper to feed. They are herbivorous, while chickens are grainivorous. The production of seeds is far more expensive than the production of young green grasses. Chicken hasn't always been cheap either. Veal used to be cheaper and was more readily available to city dwellers who would often make a dish called city chicken which is actually made out of veal. Now, veal is outrageously priced and sometimes not carried at all by grocery stores. I can only guess as to why chicken is cheaper than rabbit. It's not because they are cleaner or disease free. My wife's uncle was a chicken farmer raising tens of thousands in football field-sized, sheet metal warehouses that smelled of pure ammonia. He always had the flu from exposure to his birds and in the trade magazines he kept, Israeli gas masks for poultry farmers were advertised. I think chickens are cheaper because they produce eggs as well as meat. Economic scales of size then must kick in, leaving rabbits mauled by their feathered competitors. I've made rabbit baked, as part of Brunswick stews, and in gumbo, and I bet it would be especially good Kentucky Fried, but I don't like deep frying at home. In the interest of historical accuracy, however, I looked up how they cooked rabbit circa 1901 in Louisiana. There are four rabbit recipes and five hare recipes in The Picayune Creole Cookbook. Rabbit soup, or Potage de Lapin, calls for two young rabbits, two quarts of cold water, one onion, one bay leaf, one-half cup of rice, one blade of mace, one-half cayenne pepper pod, and salt to taste. Sounds pretty simple and according to the recipe is famous. Stewed rabbit or Salmi de Lapin has two rabbits, two onions, butter, garlic, an herb bouquet, one cube of ham, a glass of claret wine, and a can of mushrooms. The recipe says to serve with mashed potatoes or (and?) green peas. Rabbit hunters style, Lapin a la Chasseur, is much the same recipe with the addition of lemon zest and croutons. Rabbit en Matelote is rabbit cooked with tomatoes and beef broth. Hare, roasted over carrots and onion and stuffed with apples cooked in white wine was the "in vogue" way of serving it in 1900. Hares were also cooked creole style and stewed with onions. The last recipe for hare in this cookbook says to serve the hare with Sauce Poivrade which the index to the book says is on page 167, but clumsy editing actually left it out of the book completely. I think this sauce is cream and hot peppercorns which I wouldn't make. Save the chickens. Eat more rabbit. ------------ About the author Mark Gelbart: My book, Talk Radio, is a black comedy about a radio talk show host who gets kidnapped and psychologically tortured by a loser. www.mark-gelbart.com Email: agelbart@aol.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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