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with smooth and sharp claws, as
that denotes they are young: should these be blunt and rugged, the ears
dry and tough, the animal is old. After emptying and skinning it, wash
it well in cold water, and let it soak for about 1/4 hour in warm water,
to draw out the blood. Bring the head round to the side, and fasten it
there by means of a skewer run through that and the body. Put the rabbit
into sufficient hot water to cover it, let it boil very gently until
tender, which will be in from 1/2 to 3/4 hour, according to its size and
age. Dish it, and smother it either with onion, mushroom, or liver
sauce, or parsley-and-butter; the former is, however, generally
preferred to any of the last-named sauces. When liver-sauce is
preferred, the liver should be boiled for a few minutes, and minced very
finely, or rubbed through a sieve before it is added to the sauce.
_Time_.--A very young rabbit, 1/2 hour; a large one, 3/4 hour; an old
one, 1 hour or longer.
_Average cost_, from 1s. to 1s. 6d. each.
_Sufficient_ for 4 persons.
_Seasonable_ from September to February.
THE RABBIT.--Though this animal is an inhabitant of most
temperate climates, it does not reach so far north as the hare.
The wild rabbit is a native of Great Britain, and is found in
large numbers in the sandy districts of Norfolk and
Cambridgeshire. Its flesh is, by some, considered to have a
higher flavour than that of the tame rabbit, although it is
neither so white nor so delicate. The animal, however, becomes
larger and fatter in the tame than in the wild state; but it is
not desirable to have it so fat as it can be made.
CURRIED RABBIT.
978. INGREDIENTS.--1 rabbit, 2 oz. of butter, 3 onions, 1 pint of stock
No. 104, 1 tablespoonful of curry powder, 1 tablespoonful of flour, 1
teaspoonful of mushroom powder, the juice of 1/2 lemon, 1/2 lb. of rice.
_Mode_.--Empty, skin, and wash the rabbit thoroughly, and cut it neatly
into joints. Put it into a stewpan with the butter and sliced onions,
and let them acquire a nice brown colour, but do not allow them to
blacken. Pour in the stock, which should be boiling; mix the curry
powder and flour smoothly with a little water, add it to the stock, with
the mushroom powder, and simmer gently for rather more than 1/2 hour;
squeeze in the lemon-juice, and serve in the centre of a dish, with an
edging of boiled rice all round. Where economy is studied, water may be
substitute
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