The trouble with rabbits

I just happened to jump into a conversation the other day (okay, it was on Twitter) about why more people don't eat rabbits. They're an incredibly sustainable animimal to raise for food: they multiply quickly, are easy to feed, don't require large resources. Also, rabbit is delicious. So why don't we eat rabbit like we eat chicken? Here are a few reasons.

1. Many people think they're too cute to eat.

2. They are tricky to cook and eat because they have a lot of tiny bones, and once you get beyond the legs you really have to work hard to extract meat.

3. They're relatively expensive: $22 for a rabbit vs. $12 for a comparably sized chicken at the Park Slope Food Coop.

4. Some people think rabbit tastes gamey.

Okay, the cute thing kind of underscores the denial we all have over eating meat/animals in the first place. I'll leave that aside. And I'll get to #2 later. As for cost, if they're so cheap to raise, why are rabbits so expensive?

Fellow food blogger Ulla Kjarval (Goldilocks Finds Manhattan), who grew up on a farm upstate and knows a thing or two about eating rabbits, tells me it's because rabbit processing is expensive. Processing means slaughtering and butchering. Neither hooved nor poultry, rabbit exists in a highly-regulated no-man's land or processing. No one wants to deal with them, and those who do charge a lot for the trouble. I joked a little about becoming a rabbit processor myself just to keep the bunnies coming. (By the way, Ulla was on Hot Grease today!)

Anyway, Ulla recommended this recipe for rabbit with prunes from Colloquial Cook. As you can see from the photo, I overcooked mine a bit, but it was still delicious. And if you buy your rabbit from Dartagnan it will not taste remotely gamey (#4). For this dish I used just the legs.

Mustard greens are a bright accompaniment to rabbit

The rest of the rabbit I browned in a pot and them simmered in water with onion, bay leaf, and rosemary for stew. This takes care of #3, the bones. I extracted all that delicious rabbit flavor from the bones into a broth. Then I let it cool overnight.

The next day I pulled off all the meat and shredded it. It's not so hard when you do it by hand rather than with a fork and knife.

Then I strained the broth and added about 2 cups buttermilk, a chopped yukon gold potato, and a couple of chopped carrots (Lane picked out the veggies). The buttermilk went especially well with the stew, but I should point out that I used raw buttermilk from a farm. Most commercial buttermilk sold in the supermarket is made with thickening agents, while natural buttermilk is think like skim milk (it's the liquid leftover from when you make butter, hence the name). You can boil or simmer natural buttermilk, but my experience is that commercial buttermilk curdles if you boil it, so be careful. And then enjoy your cute, expensive yet economically cooked, hardly gamey stew!

In which I get into Hot Grease

Right after I returned from Stone Barns I headed over to Roberta's in Bushwick where the Heritage Radio Network broadcasts. Actually, HRN broadcasts from two converted shipping containers in the restaurant's garden. The sound booth has large windows so diners can watch broadcasts--and radio hosts and guests can watch diners.

Hot Grease host Nicole Taylor invited me to be a guest on her show, Hot Grease. What an honor! (Listen to the broadcast here.) I love Nicole's smart shows on the Brooklyn food scene. Hot Grease focuses on deliciousness, sustainability, and food justice issues. Here she is with one of the guys from Snacky Tunes guys just before we get started. What a cozy sound booth, no?

My fellow guest was Asanteewa Harris of the Community Vision Council. She a 3-generation Brooklynite with 8 grandsons living all over the borough. Asanteewa and others from CVC will be attending the upcoming Growing Power gathering, an initiative of urban farming legend Will Allen. I should have taken a picture of Asanteewa because she is gorgeous.

Above the radio station is Roberta's rooftop garden--planted with seed money from none other than Alice Waters. Oh yeah, and the pizza Roberta's is incredible--I tried the Good Girl with kale, taleggio, pork sausage, and garlic. Mmm, must return soon. Check out Edile Brooklyn's writeup.

Young McJasper at the farm: Stone Barns

High up on the list of reasons why I love Jasper's new school is this: they love growing food. The school has a plot at the local community garden and their activities there are integrated into the curriculum. And on Monday the school took a trip up to the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. This is a sustainable farm and education center with a cafe and weekly farmer's market. The farm also helps feed the restaurant Blue Hill (where Lane and I celebrated an anniversary a couple years ago) in New York City.

I'm so glad the school planned the trip in late October, with the fall colors on full display. Sigh--I was often distracted by the fall foliage.

Stone Barns is a pristine example of sustainable farming; much of what I've read about Joel Salatin's farming methods was on display here. Sheep and cows are moved from field to field so as not to overgraze any one piece of land.

The "eggmobiles" are also rotated around the property so the free-range hens can peck new ground and so their droppings don't over-accumulate. Maybe it was the cool weather, but I couldn't believe how fresh the farm smelled.

The Berkshire piglets are kept in the forest. Did you know pigs can't sweat? This is why they roll around in mud--to cool themselves off. At Stone Barns the pigs keep cool in the shade. Jasper found the giant sow's snorting terrifying. They did kind of remind me of the boars in Princess Mononoke.

Gorgeous digs you've got here, piggies! Tell me, who does your decorating?

Of course, they also grow vegetables here.

I think this is drying basil.

The greenhouses.

It occurred to me, schools often take trips to see the animals at the zoo--but doesn't it seem more meaningful to see animals you encounter on your plate? Our tour leader and Jasper's teacher did a great job of engaging the children, helping them to understand how the farm works and what it means for the animals. The following day Jasper's class built their own farm made of blocks, their own clay figures, and other materials. I can't wait to see it this Friday! Jasper tells me he and a classmate got to make the eggmobile. I'll post the restults next week. And now, another gratuitous fall photo.

October New Amsterdam Market

Oooh, look what I found at October's New Amsterdam Market!

Purple mustard greens from the Queen County Farm.

Fresh masa from Hot Bread Kitchen--I'm making empanadas tonight.

Ginger cake and currant-filled cookies from Saltie.

Driest apple cider ever from Bellweather made with heritage apples, Mama O's kimchee, caramels from Liddabit.

I also enjoyed a Luke's Lobster roll and fresh oysters from Stella. And I met the publishers of The Art of Eating and Edible Brooklyn/Manhattan/East End. Did you go? Did you read Zachary's review? What did you eat/buy?

Quickie dessert: concord jam tartlets

A couple weeks ago I went through the trouble of making concord grape jam using this excellent recipe from The Hungry Mouse. We loved the jam and thought it was so delicious it ought to be in dessert. But after making the jam (plus doing 1000 other things that day) I wanted to go way, way easy.

This is why they invented marscapone cheese.

I had Lane pickup some ginger biscuits from the store, which we crumbled over the bottom of some ramekins. Over the cookies we spread a thick layer of marscapone, topped with a few spoonfulls of jam. I think the spiciness of ginger is a zesty compliment to earthy, almost-tart concord grapes.