Of Herbs And Stewed Rabbit

Yes, images of Ithilien passed before me as I thought of the rabbit stew that Sam had made. I'm sure that stew tasted much better than mine, as Sam seemed more a cook than I (he hauled all his pots and pans around Middle-Earth as much as he could before being forced to abandon them somewhere, probably somewhere inside or near Mordor).

Anyway, I just had to get this rabbit or else risk the opposite of buyer's remorse. Sadly, it was pretty traumatizing to handle the meat. The main source of unease came from the fact that the rabbit was essentially still whole, i.e. I had to joint the thing (makes me wonder why I don't shudder at whole duck or whole chicken...).

Using as reference a combination of Darina Allen's West Cork Rabbit Casserole, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Rabbit Stew, and Theodora Fitzgibbon's Irish Rabbit Stew, I made this stew of primarily Guinness, onion, carrots, mushrooms, apples, shallots, crushed juniper berries, parsley, olive oil, salt and pepper. It looked like a soup (I didn't add any thickening agents) and smelled like your usual meat stew. The rabbit itself looked like chicken, and the initial taste was like chicken, but I personally thought the gaminess came out towards the end, in the aftertaste. Surprisingly, Kevin was totally fine with the rabbit! He ate a good percentage of it, and I deboned the rest (which was annoying given all the small bones) to freeze and save for another day...