Super furry animals
Marcus Wareing relishes the challenge of taking a rustic ingredient and transforming it into something elegant and worthy of his Michelin-starred status. He talks rabbit with Gaby Huddart.
"Part of the buzz of being a chef is taking something that has traditionally been a poor man's ingredient and turning it into a delicacy - it really demonstrates your skill," asserts Marcus Wareing, chef-proprietor of London's one-Michelin-starred Pétrus restaurant. He is, of course, voicing a widely held view among chefs of his calibre. Indeed, in his own pantheon of peasant produce rabbit holds a prominent place.
His particular fondness for rabbit derives from its versatility. It can be used as the basis for both starters and main courses, and with very different results. "It's possible to use this one ingredient in a myriad of ways. I vividly remember how we used to serve it when I worked at Le Gavroche - canons of rabbit with mustard-grain sauce - while in France I saw it used in a variety of terrines," he recalls.
French chefs may be partial to using rabbit in terrines, but it was the canon of rabbit created and cooked by London-based Frenchman Eric Crouillère-Chavot at his eponymous restaurant on London's Fulham Road (now closed) that sticks in Wareing's memory. He says it was the most complete realisation of rabbit on the plate he has so far encountered. "It was a canon of rabbit stuffed with sweetbreads and served with potato fondant, wild mushrooms and rabbit jus. I can still remember it like I ate it yesterday, because Eric had clearly taken time with it and had executed it to absolute perfection."
The secret to a memorable rabbit dish lies in the quality of produce used. At Pétrus rabbits are supplied by the Personal Catering Company, which imports them from Rungis market in Paris.
"They are farmed rabbits from Brittany, the Loire and Cognac, which are then processed in Anjou before being sent to Rungis," explains Wareing, who laments the fact that he is forced to buy farmed rather than wild rabbits. The reared animals may be slightly plumper, more tender and more consistent in size than their wild cousins, he concedes, but he believes that they are inferior in taste.
"The flavour of farmed rabbit is more delicate than wild rabbit and needs more work to enhance it," he says. "I think the taste of something that is wild and free is always better - just as wild salmon is superior in taste to farmed salmon, so it is with rabbit. The wild creature is also stronger and more gamey and the meat is a little darker.
"Working in London, though, there's no way I could ensure a consistent supply of wild rabbits in the quantities I need at the quality I need them, so I have no choice but to buy farmed. But I think chefs working in country house hotels, who can buy from local gamekeepers, are lucky and have a great advantage."
Rabbits arrive at Pétrus whole (merely skinned and cleaned of their intestines) before being butchered immediately. In contrast to some game, they require no hanging.
The two back legs are removed for dishes such as the terrine and ravioli , while the back meat is taken off the bone in order to create a stuffed saddle - "It's a very technically skilled job to keep this piece of meat whole," Wareing says. The liver and kidneys are also removed and used in the terrine. "We use the bones for making sauce, so the head is really the only part of the animal that goes in the bin."
Some kitchens favour marinating the meat for several hours before using it, but at Pétrus it is left clean. This is because Wareing believes the flavour of farmed rabbit is so delicate that using herbs or alcohol in a marinade would destroy it.
His favoured method of cooking rabbit is to confit the meat in duck fat, gently scenting it with garlic, thyme, bay leaf and bouquet garni. This is done slowly, over four to five hours, in a barely tepid oven. This prevents the meat from drying out.
"There are so many ways you can cook the meat, but confit is my favourite because it ensures that it holds its moisture and flavour, even when served at room temperature in a terrine."
Wareing is also prepared to try the trickier cooking technique of roasting, but he is well aware of the dangers of going down this route. Roasting rabbit, as in the saddle dish pictured here, is a method that requires precise timing. "One minute too long and the meat will become dry, chewy and boring. It should be a pale rosé colour and have a lovely shine to it when served."
He is a firm believer in sticking to classic rustic combinations to serve with the rabbit, accompanying it with root vegetables, cabbage and mushrooms. And these days, when rabbit is available all year round, he remains a staunch traditionalist. At Pétrus rabbit appears on the menu during the winter months only, where it sits comfortably alongside other seasonal game. "Historically, rabbit would have been shot in the winter, so I would consider using it between September and April only," he insists.
Matching rabbit with wine
Alan Holmes, head sommelier at Pétrus, believes rabbit is a tricky meat to match. "It has a distinctive flavour but can be quite sweet, so as a rule it needs a fairly full-bodied but smooth and elegant wine, without too much tannin, as this has the effect of drying it on the palate."
A safe bet, he suggests, would be a Cabernet Sauvignon from Torres in northern Spain. "The 1989 is big and full-bodied, but is smooth and has soft, supple tannins, allowing the sweetness of the meat to come through."
Recommendations to go with Wareing's dishes are:
Terrine - from St Emilion - Château Troplong Mandot, Grand Cru Classé 1985 (£160).
Ravioli - from Burgundy - Gevrey Chambertin Premier Cru "Clos St Jacques", Vallet FrŠres 1986 (£106).
Saddle - from Proven‡e - Domaine Tempier, Bandol Cuvée Tourtine 1989 (£75).
For those with a bigger budget, he recommends 1982 Pétrus (£3,000). "It has soft, sweet, perfumed characters, but is still powerful and has a lovely juiciness about it."
The revival of rabbit
Myxomatosis, the disease that spread through the rabbit population in the 1950s and 1960s, is probably the reason rabbit meat went through a period of being deeply unfashionable. According to the Personal Catering Company, which supplies P‚trus, those days are now long gone. In contrast to a decade ago, when the company sold just 10 to 15 rabbits a week, it is now supplying more than 250 each week to restaurants around the UK. Clearly, the nation's appetite for rabbit has returned.
