Rabbit
in Classic
French
Mustard
Sauce

go straight to the recipe

There is absolutely nothing new about this recipe apart from using sous vide to tenderise the rabbit. It’s a classic French dish, however the French can usually lay their hands on a farmed rabbit, that unlike our ‘bush bunnies’ need no special treatment.

Our mother Fay often cooked this dish without knowing is was especially French in origin. Her bunny was always tasty but a bit tough and no matter how long it had been slow-cooked the meat clung to the bone. We happily gnawed the bones. The sous vide technique renders the bunny super tender and falling from the bone.

If you are new to sous vide please read our food safety instructions before you start…click here

Serves 3 – 4 if you embellish with more side dishes, but the rabbit is so good 3 diners made short work of the entire rabbit complete with little sighs of absolute delight.

please note : this recipe is only for wild rabbit

AO 22 JUNE 2024

the day the
rabbit arrives

1 fresh wild rabbit
100g white wine vinegar
10 black peppercorns
50g p/w onion, sliced
3 sprigs of thyme

Remove the legs section the body of the rabbit into three. Cover with cold water, add the remaining ingredients, swirl around, cover and refrigerate for twenty-four hours.

SOAKING THE RABBIT PORTIONS

the next day

100g cold butter cut into cubes
2 vac bags [1]

Wearing food service gloves, remove the rabbit pieces from the soak and dry them with a clean cloth or paper towel. Put the rabbit pieces in the vac bag and add the butter to the bag.

The rabbit will be fine like this for a couple of days, make sure you date the bag.

THE RABBIT VACCED AND READY FOR THE SOUS VIDE BATH

to sous vide

ice for rapid chilling the rabbit

Pre-heat the sous vide bath to 65°C
Cook the rabbit for 7 hours. Rapid chill and refrigerate.

[2]

ABOVE THE RABBIT STRAIGHT FROM THE SOUS VIDE BATH…BELOW IMMEDIATELY RAPID CHILL

to finish
the dish

100g plain flour 100g clarified butter or ghee
Maldon sea salt
freshly and coarsely ground black pepper
100g Dijon wholegrain mustard
250g chicken stock
300ml Tweedvale or Jersey Fresh pure cream
Beerenberg Hahndorf Hot Mustard …optional
handful curly parsely, stalked and finely chopped

UGLY POTENTIALLY DELICIOUS, THE RABBIT TIPPED INTO A BOWL FROM THE VAC BAG
FLOURED AND SEASONED AND THE BROWNING PROCESS UNDER WAY

Open the vac bag and tip everything into a bowl. Wearing food service gloves extract the rabbit portions and dry them off on a clean cloth or paper towel. Put the flour into a freezer bag, add the rabbit pieces and make sure they are evenly coated with flour.

Heat the butter and when it is hot add the floured rabbit pieces to the pan. Season generously with salt and pepper and brown on all sides. As the rabbit pieces are nicely browned transfer them to a dish and keep them warm. Add the juices from the bag and the mustard to the pan and crank the heat. Scrape all the browned bits up and whisk until the sauce starts to thicken. Add the chicken stock and again whisk until you have a good sauce consistency, then whisk in the cream and right at the last minute the parsely.

[1] I find it is best to double vac because often the small sharp bones pierce the first bag.
[2] For the first trial [the one the pictures are taken from] I did 8 hours @ 65°C and have cut it back to 7 hours.

"

sustainable

do the enviroment a favour eat
wild rabbit

serve with…for me it just doesn’t get better than fried just dug potatoes but a winter rocket salad simply dressed with your best EVO and a splash of Leonardi red Wine vinegar is also awesome.

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