That Than Which Nothing Greater Can Be Conceived: The Philosophy of Food, Issue #023: Rabbit Gumbo

Last issue posed us with a question: what to do with leftover (uncooked) rabbit? The answer, as one of my thoughts went, is rabbit gumbo. To produce this, I adapted a recipe meant for turkey gumbo, taken from La Bonne Cuisine. What follows is the best recreation of the ideal ingredients and process I came up with.

Once again, throwing this up here to spare any who own and adore rabbits.

The Ingredients

VEGGIES! A lot more veggies than I realized went into gumbo.

It was a real joy working with real andouille, rather than the touristy crap that was available in Indiana.

For the Stock
-2 rabbits
-3 quarts of water
-2 cloves of garlic, chopped
-1 medium onion, chopped
-1 tsp salt
-Pepper to taste

For the roux
-1 cup cooking oil (or 1/2 cup bacon grease and 1/2 cup cooking oil. . . or just 1 cup bacon grease)
-1 cup flour

For the first round of ingredients
-4 medium onions, chopped
-2 cloves of garlic, chopped
-1 bell pepper, chopped
-8 ribs of celery, chopped
-1/2 cup of fresh parsley, chopped

For the second round of ingredients
-1 lb. andouille, chopped
-1 lb. sliced okra

For the third round of ingredients
-Rabbit stock
-1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
-2 14 oz cans of chopped tomatoes
-2 tsp. salt
-Cayenne pepper to taste
-Tabasco sauce to taste

For the finishing touches
-1 tsp brown sugar
-1/2 a lemon's worth of lemon juice

The Process

In a stew pot, add the rabbits (cracked or cut into large pieces) and other stock ingredients to 3 quarts of water and bring to a boil. Boil for one hour, set aside the meat and stock, and discard the bones.

Double, bubble, toil, and trouble. . .

Behold! Rabbit stock!

Not a whole lot of rabbit meat left though. . .

In a large dutch oven, heat up the oil and grease over a medium flame. Or medium electrical burner if you're not blessed with a gas stove. Gradually add the flour (I added 1/4 cup at a time) and stir constantly. Cook the roux until it turns a deep golden brown, then add the next round of ingredients.

The roux, just getting started.

And the finished roux, nice and golden brown.

I had the onions, garlic, bell pepper, celery, and parsley waiting in a big metal bowl for this part, and just dumped it into the roux. Stir it into the roux well, so that all the veggies get coated and cook it for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Mashing the veggies into the roux.

See how the roux just coats everything? Fantastic!

Next, dump in the okra and andouille and stir it in well. Cook the mix for another five minutes.

And in goes the sausage and okra.

And we're just about ready to get some liquid up in here.

Now add the stock, Worcestershire sauce, tomato, cayenne pepper, Tabasco sauce, and salt. Stir it all in well and simmer for 2 to 3 hours.

So, it simmers like this for two to three hours. This is a good time to debone your rabbit and make sure you have enough meat and rice.

Add the rabbit meat and continues to simmer for 30 minutes. At the last moment, stir in the brown sugar and lemon juice.

And she's ready to serve!

Serve over white rice and pig out.

The Results

First of all, I used significantly less rabbit than I call for. Mainly because I was using what I didn't use when I made conys in hogepoche. I filled out the gumbo with three breasts of chicken meat, browned in olive oil with pepper and chopped into bite size pieces.

That said, the dish turned out fantastic. I went for a gumbo on the spicier side, but kept a close eye on my cayenne usage, so as not to make it unbearably hot. It was also interesting tasting the gumbo as I added ingredients, seeing how the different flavors blend together, some of which I had not been aware were in gumbo (such as Worcestershire sauce).

Probably the most valuable lesson learned from this adventure, however, is the process itself. Now that I know the steps and proportions, I have a lot of ability to experiment. No doubt you'll see what comes next. . .