Rabbit John

[Terina]

BetsyBird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

Wow.

The book and film, Rabbit Proof Fence sort of brought me low for days. And yes, I was a person who was depressed by the Lorax thing as well. So I would be cautious sharing this with a particular kind of child as well, but oh, the power and awesomeness of other adults taking something as powerless as a rabbit and having it take over. Amazing.

I recently used the book as a prompt in a university Masters course assignment around the notions of hope/despair in modern culture. My interviewee was emphatic that she would not read this to children younger than 12 or so.

Everyone here is missing the point of this text. The text is based on problematic idealogical discourses dominated by colonial frameworks. Be careful how you teach this text, you could indoctrinate your students with false assumptions about Australian History.

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Smart article as usual by @timwilliams but I do think there's a really important metric missing - did the work work? We find that the better we can link our work to the business impact, the better the value discussion goes with clients. Oh, and actually there's another metric - did the work win awards - was it celebrated by your peers for being great work? I know, I know, that's a whole can of worms I've just opened up, but fundamentally we should all be trying to do BOTH - deliver work that works and also be celebrated for being genuinely inventive. And to really mangel the metaphor, that can be one lovely rabbit of value!

But Anastasia decides to fight back. After a chance encounter with a fox ends with her stabbing it with a sharp stick, she realizes that perhaps rabbits need not be helpless prey animals. And as her legend begins to grow, more rabbits, mice, and other animals flock to her side, slowly building a coalition that fights back against the foxes, coyotes, and wolves.

But at the same time, the characters never feel like mere puppets. They are all carefully crafted and engaging. I especially enjoyed Wendy, the floppy-eared and savage rabbit heretic, and Bricabrac, the cunning rat who helps the bunnies forge their arsenal.

COMMENT:

Sauce piquante, or peppery sauce, is a stew-like dish of French origin in Louisiana. It can be made with seafood, domesticated meats or wild game. Tomato is added to the dish to give it a slight rusty color. Although called peppery, the sauce has just the right touch of spice.

METHOD:

In a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat. Season rabbit and squirrel using salt and peppers and saut until golden brown. Remove from oil and keep warm. Add flour to pot and, using a wire whisk, stir until dark brown roux is achieved. Add onions, celery, bell peppers and garlic. Saut 3-5 minutes or until vegetables are wilted. Add tomato paste and continue to stir 5-6 minutes or until the sauce is a nice brown color. Add tomatoes and beef stock. Blend well into the roux mixture, bring to a rolling boil and reduce to simmer. Add meat, sugar, salt and peppers. Blend well. Add oregano and Worcestershire. Allow to simmer 1 hour or until game is tender. Finish with green onions and parsley. Serve over a plate of steamed white rice.

When I was growing up, most of the rabbits I ate were fairly small ones that my father or I shot. Mama usually fried them unless it was a wintry night, in which case she might make Hasenpfeffer. The following recipe, for two, appeared in my first cookbook, the 20th Anniversary Edition of which is now available. You can buy signed copies from my site (I should have them by September 1) or you can download Kindle or Nook versions from online sellers.

Mix well together the flour, pepper, and salted herbs. Dust the rabbit pieces in the mixture, shaking off any excess. Brown the rabbit in the bacon fat, cooking the pieces until they are evenly browned. Remove the rabbit and set aside on a plate.

Add the onions and cook over medium low until they are clear, about five minutes. Pour in the wine and the stock, bring to a boil, and scrape up any bits that may have stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add the rabbit and any drippings from where it lay and the drained bacon, and simmer the stew over very low heat, covered, until the rabbit is tender, but not yet falling from the bones. It will take between 1 and 1-1/2 hours.

I made a broth with the belly flaps. I deglazed pan with a Bulgarian ros, added the browned pieces back to the pan with the herbs and two fresh heads of garlic, added broth to barely cover, and simmered it all, covered, for about 45 minutes. I also added the grated zest and juice of a lemon. I removed the remaining broth from the heat and added a bunch of lemon-cured olives to the stock to soften both their flavor and texture.

On a rosemary twig, I skewered the liver lobes, alternating with the kidneys and heart. I added them to the rabbit stew and let it go another 10 minutes, uncovered, until they were gently poached. I then removed all the meat and offal to a platter and added the olives. Then I added the remaining broth to the pan juices and reduced to a sauce that was almost as thick as I wanted. I strained it well, pushing all the softened garlic through. I stirred the sauce well and strained it once again onto the meat.

For supper that night, I made an omelet and salad, the salad made with the rabbit liver cooked in duck fat with the last of some Viennese speck a friend had brought me. I added sherry vinegar to the pan to deglaze it and poured the pan juices over greens and cucumbers.

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