A Rabbit Mould

Another day I found a woman selling rabbits; having bought a pair, I carried them home concealed under my cloak and hid them in the pantry. I skinned and blanched them as before, then stripped off every particle of flesh; I put all the bones in a stewpan with about two pounds of knuckle of veal, an onion, a small piece of ham, and a spoonful of whole allspice. When it had boiled for an hour, I put it through a sieve into a clean saucepan; I added the meat from the rabbits, let it come to a boil, skimmed it, and re-covered the saucepan closely. In an hour's time I turned it all out into a basin with a spout, to cool, while I buttered a mould, stuck stars of truffles over it, then into this poured the rabbit liquor, and, lastly, a small bottle of olives. This mould I told Isobel to turn out next morning, and there was little fear' of her ever knowing of what the jelly consisted.

Rabbit Cutlets With Green Peas

From the back of two other rabbits I intend to cut four fillets, and divide them again into cutlets. See how neatly it can be done. Now give me the pan and some clarified butter, sprinkle the meat with a little pepper and a suspicion of cayenne. Drop in the cutlets. We watched them as they turned white and firm, then I took them out and sent Isobel with them to the pantry. In the meantime I scraped away every particle of flesh from the bones, pounded it in a mortar and passed through a wire sieve. "Weigh this pulp, Isobel; to each four ounces add a gill of whipped cream; stir vigorously; season it highly with nutmeg, white pepper and salt. Now get a wet knife, coat each cutlet with the cream. Butter the large flat dish, lay each cutlet on it as you finish it. Cover them over with a well-buttered paper, set the dish in a slow oven for about twenty minutes. Arrange them on a fresh dish around a heap of green peas; thicken the gravy with corn-flour, add the beaten yolk of an egg; do not let the gravy boil, pass it through a sieve on to the green peas. Why do you look astonished, Isobel? Oh, I see, the green peas. Did you not see the tin of them I brought in with me yesterday afternoon? it is those I want you to use."

Sweetbread Pears

"I must now show you how to make sweetbread pears. First cut them into dice-shaped pieces; that is quite right; now put a lump of butter and enough flour to make a paste into a saucepan, stir it over the fire till it looks like cream, but be very careful not to let it burn; add a tablespoonful of water to prevent its boiling. Now that is real melted butter. Stir in the sweetbreads and mushrooms, add a dust of pepper and a pinch of salt; mix well for five minutes; when all is thoroughly heated, turn it out on to a dish. While it is getting cold, prepare some fine bread crumbs, and I will beat up an egg. Now divide the mixture into nine parts, flour your fingers, form it into pear-shaped pieces, dip them into the egg, dust each one with bread crumbs, stick a clove at one end and a stalk of parsley at the other; lay them on a plate well dusted with flour, and take them down to the cellar till the morning. Then all you will need to do is to put two ounces of lard in a clean frying-pan, let it come nearly to the boil, then carefully lay each ' pear' in, move them about till quite brown, then take them up, drain on paper, and place them on buttered toast, cut into diamond shapes. I shall be with you in time to prepare that. I shall now pick and wash the curly cress, with which I mean to garnish the dish."