FRENCH COOKING

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 88, 5 July 1927, Page 5

FRENCH COOKING

TWO WAYS WITH A RABBIT By FRANCES KEYZER There is not a house in France where rabbit is not eaten. I remember the time when, in Britain, rabbit was the Sunday meal “below stairs,” but to-day I know that the prejudice, if prejudice it was, has disappeared, due to the improvement in the art of cooking 1 . The French treat the tame rabbit in the same manner as the wild and make two excellent dishes of the animal by halving it. One portion is made into a stew, the other into a pate. To start with, the stew, called a civet —the name given to its more aristocratic connection, the hare —the French cook chops it in pieces of approximately the same size. A frying pan or saucepan is placed

on the fire with a little fat. and when heated a couple of chopped onions are thrown in, to colour. Then the pieces of rabbit are added and turned on all sides to obtain a uniform, dark-brown appearance. The pieces are salted, peppered and removed to a plate to make room for a thick slice of bacon cut in cubes. When steming hot a tablespoonful of flour is mixed with the onions and bacon, and either hot-water or stock poured thereon, and, if possible, a glass of red wine. The wine is not essential, but it improves the flavour. In France, where wine is the national beverage, it is customary to take a tumblerful from the bottle, but in England a small quantity of port will advantageously replace it. The rabbit is next thrown into this sauce, the pan is covered and the contents simmer gently for about an hour and a-half. Where a glass cooking utensil is used, the stew can be completed in the oven and served in the glass receptacle. RABBIT PATE The flesh of the remaining half of the rabbit is removed from the bone. To this is added one pound of lean bacon, one pound of pork, and one pound of veal. The meat is then thrown into the mincing machine and united in a thick paste with an egg, plenty of salt and pepper, a chopped onion and any herbs at hand —such as parsley and thyme. This compound is then placed in a deep, covered receptacle. In France there is a pate dish in every household. The essential thing is an oblong or long deep-shape that can be put into the oven. The shape is greased before the mixture is poured in as it must be remembered that the pate is “turned out.” To ascertain if it is sufficiently cooked, the blade of a knife is thrust into the pate, and must issue clean. If the knife emerges greasy, the dish is not ready, and must still remain in the oven. Pate is ojjly eaten cold. Therefore

it is removed from Its receptacle on the following day, placed on a long dish, and cut into thin slices that will be served with any green salad seasoned with oil and lemon juice, salt and pepper, and will advantageously complete any ceremonious dinner or make a meal in itself. This kind of pate is in reality an economical dish, as, once cooked, it will keep for days.