RABBIT

By CHRISTINE LIU

del.ico.us | digg it! | reddit!

print | email | 0 Comments

Hunting season: Sat 10.18.08–Sat 2.28.09 (cottontail); Sat 11.15.08–Wed 12.31.08 (jackrabbit); Sat 10.18.08–Thu 2.05.09 (snowshoe hare)

Tastes like: like chicken—for real—with lean, slightly sweet meat

Typical ways to cook: roast, stew, braised, fried

Good names to assign before eating: Lucky, Sniffles, Bigwig

If you're cooking, where to buy: rabbit (frozen), $3.99/lb, at McKinnon's Meat Market [239A Elm St., Davis Sq., Somerville. 617.666.0888. mckinnonsmeatmarket.com]

Marliave

Black truffle stuffed rabbit leg, Parma prosciutto-wrapped loin, wild mushrooms, whipped potatoes, $32

At this storied 123-year-old restaurant, recently reopened by chef Scott Herritt (also of Grotto), old-school style meets (and meats) the new. The rabbits, which arrive whole from Vermont, are butchered down in the kitchen. After taking the thigh bone out of the leg, it's stuffed with a Burgundy black truffled farcie, composed as a puree of rabbit meat, egg, truffles and a bit of chicken. "We pan-roast the whole dish, take some of that black truffle stuffing into the tenderloin and wrap that with prosciutto," explains Herritt. The stock, fortified with mushrooms and roasted rabbit bones, wraps up the dish like a pretty, floppy-eared bow.

[10 Bosworth St., Boston. 617.422.0004. marliave.com]

Toro

Conejo Cocido—Cava-braised rabbit with carrot marmalade and Burgundy snails, $11

"Traditionally in Spain, especially near Valencia where they have mountains that run into the ocean, there's a lot of poultry and seafood and mixed dishes," tells Mike Smith, sous chef, on the land-and-sea logic of pairing rabbit with snail. There's also a bit of other mixing going on: The rabbit's prepared like a rich crépinette, a sausage wrapped in caul fat, applying a French technique to Spanish ingredients. The snails—arriving sans shell at the table—are delivered to the kitchen by a fine Burgundy snail sourcer. Smith says, "He imports them directly from France. He's the snail guy." Lucky dude.

[1704 Washington St., South End. 617.536.4300. toro-restaurant.com]

Publick House

Kriek Lambic-braised Austrialian rabbit with glazed cipollini, trio of squash and crisped sage, $18

Chef Brent Mimeault bubbles with enthusiasm in his seventh week at the helm of the Publick House's kitchen. "Working with beer, you can really use anything," raves Mimeault. "There's a huge flavor profile." He pits lean rabbit against the slight fruitiness of the Kriek, braised also with root vegetables and chicken stock, until the sauce comes together and the flesh is tender. Roasted cipollini (similar to an onion) is glazed with butter or honey, and the squash trio includes two that are herbed and one unadorned for a contrast of pure flavor. "You just have to try all your flavors before you make the statement of the dish," says Mimeault, a believer in the balance of sweet and salty, a magical equilibrium "kind of like peanut butter and jelly."

[1648 Beacon St., Washington Sq., Brookline. 617.277.2880]