I was making idle conversation with a bar tender at a local craft brewery, and somehow we stumbled upon the fact that Lautrec was also an accomplished chef. As we had talked earlier about a stray pet rabbit I had caught and eventually found and returned to its young owner the subject came up.
He told be he used to have a recipe book written by Lautrec, but misplaced or lent it out and never got it back. The book had a recipe for rabbit.
I am reasonably sure that this (Amazon Link) is the English translation, although it is out of stock now.
I have found a supplier of rabbit - no easy feat in my country, rabbit is not at all common.
Does anyone…
A) even know Toulouse Lautrec was a competent and prodigeous chef, and/or
B) have the book and hence the recipe?
I think it is quite close to coq-au-vin with a long, slow cook in white wine (rather than red) with herbs.
Fortunately I have learnt how to butcher a rabbit (they come whole) from my last foray into this arena, a rabbit & Guinness pie
Are you in the US? Because where I live (Missouri) rabbit is not impossible to come by, but it does require a few phone calls. Or in my case, one phone call, because I’m FB friends with a woman who breeds rabbits for meat. But it’s not for me, I can’t stand the gamey taste.
Does it require a visit to a specialty butcher, or perhaps a butcher that caters to certain ethnic populations? Does Polish cuisine utilize rabbit? Chicago is chock-a-block with Poles, I hear…
I think rabbit is ubiquitous in Europe. The Czech family who had me over for Christmas dinner raised rabbits in their backyard. The Germans have their Hasenpfeffer, Poles have Hunter’s Stew. Gordon Ramsey and José Andres both have rabbit recipes. The Scottish family I stayed with always had rabbit on the menu—the head of the household was a groundskeeper.
I once made rabbit stew in Moscow, but I tended to shy away from it—I could never be 100% sure of the meat’s provenance. In Canada, I can buy rabbit at my local upscale supermarket (along with goose at Christmastime), no problem.
If that cookbook is the one I’m thinking of, it has a recipe for making steak in which you slather one piece of meat with grainy mustard, put it between two others, and grill the lot over a mesquite fire. Discard the two outer steaks and eat the one in the middle—it’s the only one “done to perfection.”
This, too, has long been a goal of mine. You just do not get them here.
Alongside peacock (there are feral peacocks in one of the suburbs that my friend lives in, and most residents would agree that a reduction in population would be a net benefit).
Unfortunately my mother is unlikely to welcome either into her Christmas celebrations.
We eat Guineafowl here, though it is not usual to find it except in a very specialized butcher.
And I would love to try a swan.
But I am now derailing my own thread. I am eager to follow the rabbit recipe from Lautrec.
I’m more likely to find a rabbit or a hare* than a porpoise, but regardless, welcome.
* I have eaten a rock hyrax, poorly cooked on a fire. It was not bad, but not necessarily “good” due to the chef having imbibed a large amount of beer before a) shooting the hyrax, and then b) cooking it.
For what it is worth, these rodent-like animals are the closest relative to elephant. A meat I have also never tried.
Edit - this was a post in response to a new Doper, whose post disappeared
I am not married to an engineer; alas I am about to be divorced from a graphic designer.
But you are welcome, they seem legit.
Oh, and, the last place I obtained a rabbit was the Malmesbury farm Kalmoesfontein. Go there. Go for a day trip. Preferably book a night. Try do it on a weekday to the farmer is working in the wine cellars. You will not regret this.
Great wine, really amazing people.
I give you this example: after quite a few samples of their latest fresh wine (not ready but… almost ready) the farmer took us a few meters up the hill to observe the size of the poos that their very temporary group of captive Leopard Tortoises had produced. Those guys put my dog to shame.
In any case, whether you are into tortoise poo or luxury life (places the equivalent of Babylonstoren at 10% of the price) or just like wine*, I’d recommend a visit.
* my feet were involved in the 2021 Red. Please don’t blame me.
Aah, sorry to hear about that - I asked because I know someone who’s recently moved with her husband to Swellendam from Cape Town, and is going to be visiting next week…
I have Guinea pig recipes that my SIL gave me. She grew up in Peru where the dish has some popularity.
I’m sure it will depend on what they’ve been fed but many people will say that rabbit tastes like chicken. Saying that unusual and exotic foods taste like chicken is sometimes a joke, but in this case it’s been true IMO.
Rabbit and Guinea pig are dark meat and quite gamey. Chicken has been bred for white muscle meat, particularly the more-or-less unused breasts (that is, unused by the chicken) .
The other two use the dark meat muscles to run away.
I have heard crocodile tastes like chicken, but I would disagree. It has a vaguely similar consistency to chicken but it tastes very much like fish, and not a tasty fish!