La Chasse au Lièvre: Hunting Rabbit

Perhaps this video is a little untimely considering that Easter weekend is coming up, but the hunting season is coming to a close here in France and I wanted to share this rare look inside a 3-star restaurant in regards to game preparation. I have never had the opportunity to work with game in the United States. Most of the meat we receive in the U.S. has already been cleaned and semi-prepared.

Although it was sometimes emotionally difficult to work with cute and fury animals, towards the end of the season I felt more connected to the food I was preparing. I prefer eating food that I know has lived a healthy life free from chemicals, pesticides, steroids, and unnormal/unnatural diets.

Meat does not come from the super market. It is bought at the super market. Funny how French kids inherently understand that while American kids are convinced chicken is born boneless and skinless. The other day while I was enjoying some sunlight at Le Jardin de Tuilleries, a toddler caught my eye running around one of the fountains. He was waddling after a little duck but eventually gave up his chase, pointed at it, and said, "mmm...." Then his mother reinforced this, "Oui, ça c'est colvert, mmmmmm....."

In the States, we tend to think of Daffy Duck before we think of dinner.

If you're ever lost in the woods, stuck in Appalachia, looking to impress a new date, or wanting to reconnect with the food chain here is my video on HOW TO SKIN A RABBIT. This is a wild rabbit or hare (not the petstore kind) and they are very big and have lots of lean meat. The French word is "Lievre".

Technorati Tags: 3-star restaurants, butcher, french, How to, how to video, lapin, lievre, Ms. Glaze, rabbit, video

Comments

[Ms. Glaze]

The video is taking forever to process on You Tube and I'm not quite sure why because it's already uploaded. I will fix tomorrow ;-)

Bisous,
Ms. Glaze

[jeorg]

all wild animals have a name... dinner.

[Alan]

Excellent video Ms G. I love hare and rabbit - as do my kids - but I'm not nearly as deft at skinning them as you.

In the UK we'd call them hare as well. They're larger animals with longer back legs. Hares also live above ground unlike their warren-dwelling bunny relatives.

Will you give a hare recipe soon? I tend to pot roast hare with lots of herbs, onions, carrots and red wine but I'm sure you've much better ideas.

[Ms. Glaze]

Bonjour Alan! Thanks for the reponse – I would be happy to share some hare recipes! Most of the hare (not rabbit or lapin) recipes I know are very old traditional French ones and they don't appeal to everyone. They also take a long time to make like the classic Lievre a la Royal pictured at the end of the video which takes about 2-3 days all together.

I like your pot roast idea! That sounds super delish. Let ask some of my chef friends and see if I can come up with some recipes that are more appropriate for cooking at home. In the meantime I will post the Lievre a la Royal recette.

Bisous,
Ms. Glaze

[Alan]

Ms G

The Lievre a la Royal looked good enough to fly to Paris for - though I'd never try cooking it on my own.

I have wrapped hare (and venison) fillets in streaky bacon and roasted in the oven and that's worked well.

Inspiration would be welcome!

[Stu "El Inglés" Harris]

I love that recipe for lievre a la royale. It ends by remarking that the first time it was created "Tout le quartier etait mise en émoi" (the whole neighbourhood was entranced [by the aroma]).

One of the lesser-known disadvantages of living in California is that you can't get lievre for love or money.

[Vincent]

Ms. Glaze

I really enjoy reading your blog, especially your insight in a "restaurant 3 étoiles au Michelin". I guess that I will never be able to cook as good as you, even as a Frenchman, but at least here are a few tips in French: the title of you post today should be "La chasse au lièvre".

Bises.

[Polly]

Your bunny day was a bonne idee. Thanks for sharing this with us, Ms. Glaze! Bold of you, in a way, since it's not very PC in some parts of the US but so important. I'll never forget purchasing my first chicken chez le boucher in France. It was still intact head-to-toe, including feathers. A real eye-opener for an American.

[Stu "El Inglés" Harris]

> It was still intact head-to-toe, including feathers.

I can top that. First time I bought a rooster in the saturday market in Lodeve, intended for coq au vin, it was not only intact but still alive. We hung it up on the back of a café chair while we had aperitifs and nobody gave it a second glance. That was quite a few years ago, I don't think it would happen today.

[Ms. Glaze]

Bonjour Vincent! Thanks for the spelling correction. I'll change it right now. (I hate it when I do stupid suff like that!!!)

Stu – Wait, you hung the rooster alive on the back of your chair and nobody noticed? Oh la vache!

Polly – I think most people these days are more upset by unethical American farming practices than hunting. Of course hunting for food and hunting for sport are totally different in my books. Thanks for the comment ;-)!!!

[Chef Damien LE BIHAN]

couocu Amy, je viens tout juste de voir notre vidéo et je la trouve vraiment superbe. tu es bien la meilleure, continue comme ça et tu seras une grande chef. j'espère que tu vas bien et que tu va bientôt re-venir travailler avec nous.
j'ai cru voir que quelqu'un voulait avoir la recette du lièvre. je vais te l'envoyer avec plaisir.

A bientôt mon commis préféré.
Bisous

[buzzgirl]

Ah, qu'il est beau, le Chef! Hook a sister up!

That was hard to watch - probably because I have two pet rabbits.

Really interesting, though, and I agree que "tu seras une grande chef!"

[Vitor Hugo]

Oh boy! I was soo happy that I learned how to 'skin'/bone a chicken without damage the skin, heheheh.

Thank God(?), where I live it isn't common eat rabbit. But I would like try someday. :)

[Gem]

Desperately wanted to see video as I would like to prepare a rabbit caught in my garden. Are there some sort of GLANDS that need to be removed before cooking?

CANT BELIEVE IN THIS LIFE WHY PEOPLE STILL EAT MEAT WHEN THE DESCRIPTION OR VIDEO OF PREPARING THE FOOD TRADITIONALLY IS OFFENSIVE TO THEM>