Rabbit Pie

The Book of Household Management · Beeton, Mrs. (Isabella Mary) · 1861

Source: The Book of Household Management
Time: Cook: 90 min Total: 90 min
Yield: 5.0 – 6.0 persons
Status: success · extracted 13 days ago
Not a recipe: No

Ingredients (16)

1 rabbit ↝ Rabbit [Lamb, goat, game]
a few slices of ham ↝ Ham [Cold cuts and cured meats]
salt and white pepper to taste ↝ Salt, table, iodized [Spices and Herbs]
salt and white pepper to taste ↝ Spices, pepper, white [Spices and Herbs]
2 blades of pounded mace ↝ Spices, mace, ground [Spices and Herbs]
1/2 teaspoonful of grated nutmeg ↝ Oil, nutmeg butter [Fats and Oils]
a few forcemeat balls
3 hard-boiled eggs ↝ Eggs, Grade A, Large, egg whole [Dairy and Egg Products]
1/2 pint of gravy ↝ Gravy, NFS [Dips, gravies, other sauces]
puff crust ↝ Pastry, puff [Doughnuts, sweet rolls, pastries]

for gravy

breast- and leg-bones of the rabbit ↝ Chicken, breast, meat and skin, raw [Poultry Products]
2 or 3 shank-bones ↝ Veal, Australian, shank, fore, bone-in, separable lean only, raw [Lamb, Veal, and Game Products]
onion ↝ Onions, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]
herbs
spices ↝ Spices, paprika [Spices and Herbs]

for forcemeat balls (optional)

The liver of the rabbit ↝ Goose, liver, raw [Poultry Products]

Instructions (9)

Cut up the rabbit (which should be young), remove the breastbone, and bone the legs.
Put the rabbit, slices of ham, forcemeat balls, and hard eggs, by turns, in layers.
Season each layer with pepper, salt, pounded mace, and grated nutmeg.
Pour in about 1/2 pint of water.
Cover with crust.
Bake in a well-heated oven for about 1-1/2 hour.
Should the crust acquire too much colour, place a piece of paper over it to prevent its burning.
When done, pour in at the top, by means of the hole in the middle of the crust, a little good gravy.
The gravy may be made of the breast- and leg-bones of the rabbit and 2 or 3 shank-bones, flavoured with onion, herbs, and spices.

Original Text

RABBIT PIE.

981. INGREDIENTS.—1 rabbit, a few slices of ham, salt and white pepper to taste, 2 blades of pounded mace, 1/2 teaspoonful of grated nutmeg, a few forcemeat balls, 3 hard-boiled eggs, 1/2 pint of gravy, puff crust.

Mode.—Cut up the rabbit (which should be young), remove the breastbone, and bone the legs. Put the rabbit, slices of ham, forcemeat balls, and hard eggs, by turns, in layers, and season each layer with pepper, salt, pounded mace, and grated nutmeg. Pour in about 1/2 pint of water, cover with crust, and bake in a well-heated oven for about 1-1/2 hour. Should the crust acquire too much colour, place a piece of paper over it to prevent its burning. When done, pour in at the top, by means of the hole in the middle of the crust, a little good gravy, which may be made of the breast- and leg-bones of the rabbit and 2 or 3 shank-bones, flavoured with onion, herbs, and spices.

Time.—1-1/2 hour. Average cost, from 1s. to 1s. 6d. each.

Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons.

Seasonable from September to February.

Note.—The liver of the rabbit may be boiled, minced, and mixed with the forcemeat balls, when the flavour is liked.

FECUNDITY OF THE RABBIT.—The fruitfulness of this animal has been the subject of wonder to all naturalists. It breeds seven times in the year, and generally begets seven or eight young ones at a time. If we suppose this to happen regularly for a period of four years, the progeny that would spring from a single pair would amount to more than a million. As the rabbit, however, has many enemies, it can never be permitted to increase in numbers to such an extent as to prove injurious to mankind; for it not only furnishes man with an article of food, but is, by carnivorous animals of every description, mercilessly sacrificed. Notwithstanding this, however, in the time of the Roman power, they once infested the Balearic islands to such an extent, that the inhabitants were obliged to implore the assistance of a military force from Augustus to exterminate them.

Notes

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