388. JELLIED RABBIT with BACON

serves four

takes about 2 days to prepare


1 tame rabbit or 2 wild rabbits, chopped up but bone in (if tame, you may get 3 sections out of the saddle)
10 shallots, peeled and finely sliced
1 bottle of white wine
2 pig’s trotters
2 heads of garlic, skin on
a bundle of thyme tied together
10 black peppercorns
1 quart light chicken stock
¾ to 1 lb. thinly sliced unsmoked streaky bacon
2 bay leaves
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper


Marinate the rabbit and shallots in the white wine in a nonmetal container in the fridge overnight. Meanwhile, place the trotters in a pot with the garlic, thyme, and peppercorns, cover with the chicken stock, and bring them to a gentle simmer. Cover, and keeping an eye on it cook for 3 hours. Strain (if you want to you can add the trotter flesh to the final dish, otherwise discard it), return the liquid to a pan, and reduce by half. Allow to cool.

Next day, line an ovenproof covered crock with the bacon. Mix the rabbit and shallot-wine marinade with the trotter stock (this may have jellied so it might have to be melted) and bay leaves. Check the seasoning, remembering the salty bacon flavor, and also that you will be eating it cold so it will need a flavor boost. Pour the rabbit and its mixture into the lined crock, cover, and place in a medium 350 degree oven for 2½ hours, keeping an eye on it so it never cooks too fast. Check with a small, sharp knife that the rabbit is cooked. When cooked allow the whole crock to cool and then place it in the fridge overnight. Next day, serve cold from the crock with hot boiled potatoes with lots of chopped curly parsley.


courtesy of: The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating, by Fergus Henderson. New York: Harper Collins/Ecco, 2004, p. 121.