eating flopsy or mopsy
Nov. 12th, 2005 04:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vaznettiI'm in that state where I keep thinking about livejournal posts I'd like to make, but never quite get around to typing them up. In many cases, this is a mercy.
I think that there are people on my friends list who do a lot of cooking, or who are starting to do a lot of cooking. I'm a pretty good cook myself, although I don't write about it all that much. I consider myself a recipe cook, although now that I think about it the last time I cracked a cookbook was two weeks ago, when I brought back mussels from the farmers market and needed some inspiration -- and even then I didn't follow the recipe. The sad truth is that I only follow recipes when I bake, and that, as a friend of mine would say, is because baking is science.
The mussels were an impulse purchase; I usually allocate a certain amount of money at the market for impulse purchases. Today's was rabbit (farmed, not wild -- I used to get wild rabbit now and then when I lived in Oxford. Also wild duck.). I thought that I'd go over the mechanism which took me from "Hey, the lamb man still has some rabbit!" to the stew which is even as I type bubbling away on the stove. Presumably, you could do this with chicken as well as rabbit.
I decided to go for the whole rabbit because it has at least two meals in it, and probably three. Then I had to decide what do do with it; generally when I cook game my cooking method involves stewing or braising, because it seems more forgiving than roasting or baking. Plus, rabbit = stew. I don't know anything else to do with rabbit.
Then I had to figure out what to put in the stew -- I had a small green cabbage, but I went ahead and bought some leeks and carrots as well. If I'd noticed any I would have picked up some turnips, too, but now that I think about it, it's just as well. Basically, I work on a color-coding system -- rabbit is a light-colored meat, so it gets green and white things put in with it. I bought fresh herbs on the way out -- sage and thyme.
For the same color-coding reasons, I needed a bottle of white wine, but at the liquor store I decided to buy beer instead, because it's freezing out and because six bottles of really good beer costs less than one bottle of mediocre white wine which I'll never finish. Then I got home and realized that I had a can of Guinness in the cupboard, but again -- too dark! I bought bitter, which (as made in Nova Scotia, anyway) is pretty dark as it is.
When the time came to make the stew, this is what I did.
I dredged the rabbit (cut into 6 pieces) in flour seasoned with salt and pepper, and browned the pieces in my big enamel pot. The flour and the browning could probably be omitted, but I have it in the back of my head as a stew-making step, and I have this vague hope that the flour will help thicken the stew. Browning always takes longer than I think it will, so while that was going on I cut up the vegetables:
1 onion
6 small carrots
4 medium-small leeks (less than 1 inch diameter).
I just sliced the carrots and the leeks; leeks are a pain, because you have to wash them, then slice them, then wash them again to get all the mud out.
When the rabbit was browned, I put it aside in a bowl; then I put the onions into the pan and cooked them until they were soft. There was no need to add more oil (and you know, I probably should have tried to spoon some of the fat out of the pan, but too late now.) Then I put the rabbit back in, with the carrots and the leeks. I poured a bottle of beer into the pot and then filled it with water. I'd thought about using chicken stock, but the rabbit will make its own stock as it cooks.
At that point, I remembered the herbs, and I noticed the cabbage when I went to get them from the fridge. Again, too late now. I stripped some of the thyme off the twigs and dumped that in, but haven't put any sage in yet.
I turned up the heat until it all started to boil; now it's simmering, partially covered. Every now and then I wander into the kitchen and try to skim some of the scum and foam off the top. It smells rather strongly of leek, right now. I think I might bundle some of the thyme and sage together with string and toss that in, to provide more flavor.
I figure I'll let it cook about two hours and see how it looks then. The liquid will be thin, I can tell that already; I might add butter-mixed-with-flour near the end (beurre maniee, is that the term?) or I might just let it be.
At least now I'll be able to see what I did, next time I get to the lamb man and think, "hey, rabbit!"
I think that there are people on my friends list who do a lot of cooking, or who are starting to do a lot of cooking. I'm a pretty good cook myself, although I don't write about it all that much. I consider myself a recipe cook, although now that I think about it the last time I cracked a cookbook was two weeks ago, when I brought back mussels from the farmers market and needed some inspiration -- and even then I didn't follow the recipe. The sad truth is that I only follow recipes when I bake, and that, as a friend of mine would say, is because baking is science.
The mussels were an impulse purchase; I usually allocate a certain amount of money at the market for impulse purchases. Today's was rabbit (farmed, not wild -- I used to get wild rabbit now and then when I lived in Oxford. Also wild duck.). I thought that I'd go over the mechanism which took me from "Hey, the lamb man still has some rabbit!" to the stew which is even as I type bubbling away on the stove. Presumably, you could do this with chicken as well as rabbit.
I decided to go for the whole rabbit because it has at least two meals in it, and probably three. Then I had to decide what do do with it; generally when I cook game my cooking method involves stewing or braising, because it seems more forgiving than roasting or baking. Plus, rabbit = stew. I don't know anything else to do with rabbit.
Then I had to figure out what to put in the stew -- I had a small green cabbage, but I went ahead and bought some leeks and carrots as well. If I'd noticed any I would have picked up some turnips, too, but now that I think about it, it's just as well. Basically, I work on a color-coding system -- rabbit is a light-colored meat, so it gets green and white things put in with it. I bought fresh herbs on the way out -- sage and thyme.
For the same color-coding reasons, I needed a bottle of white wine, but at the liquor store I decided to buy beer instead, because it's freezing out and because six bottles of really good beer costs less than one bottle of mediocre white wine which I'll never finish. Then I got home and realized that I had a can of Guinness in the cupboard, but again -- too dark! I bought bitter, which (as made in Nova Scotia, anyway) is pretty dark as it is.
When the time came to make the stew, this is what I did.
I dredged the rabbit (cut into 6 pieces) in flour seasoned with salt and pepper, and browned the pieces in my big enamel pot. The flour and the browning could probably be omitted, but I have it in the back of my head as a stew-making step, and I have this vague hope that the flour will help thicken the stew. Browning always takes longer than I think it will, so while that was going on I cut up the vegetables:
1 onion
6 small carrots
4 medium-small leeks (less than 1 inch diameter).
I just sliced the carrots and the leeks; leeks are a pain, because you have to wash them, then slice them, then wash them again to get all the mud out.
When the rabbit was browned, I put it aside in a bowl; then I put the onions into the pan and cooked them until they were soft. There was no need to add more oil (and you know, I probably should have tried to spoon some of the fat out of the pan, but too late now.) Then I put the rabbit back in, with the carrots and the leeks. I poured a bottle of beer into the pot and then filled it with water. I'd thought about using chicken stock, but the rabbit will make its own stock as it cooks.
At that point, I remembered the herbs, and I noticed the cabbage when I went to get them from the fridge. Again, too late now. I stripped some of the thyme off the twigs and dumped that in, but haven't put any sage in yet.
I turned up the heat until it all started to boil; now it's simmering, partially covered. Every now and then I wander into the kitchen and try to skim some of the scum and foam off the top. It smells rather strongly of leek, right now. I think I might bundle some of the thyme and sage together with string and toss that in, to provide more flavor.
I figure I'll let it cook about two hours and see how it looks then. The liquid will be thin, I can tell that already; I might add butter-mixed-with-flour near the end (beurre maniee, is that the term?) or I might just let it be.
At least now I'll be able to see what I did, next time I get to the lamb man and think, "hey, rabbit!"
