TABELIAAUTHENTIC RECIPE
Lapin à la MoutardeRabbit with Creamy Mustard Sauce
- Total
- 1 hr 52 min
- Difficulty
- ★★☆☆☆
- Serves
- 4 servings
- Prep 10 min
- Cook 1 hr 42 min
Rabbit hind legs are braised in white wine and chicken stock and served in a French sauce of cream and two mustards. Crisp baked bacon finishes the dish.
AUTHENTICITY SCORE
Authenticity Score
This is the standard recipe, exactly as it’s made where it comes from — the highest Authenticity Score possible. Substituting ingredients changes this score; the app shows exactly how, ingredient by ingredient.
Ingredients (4 servings)
100Authenticity- Frozen bone-in rabbit hind legs4 legsBone-in hind legs, about 200–250 g each; thaw in the refrigerator the day before.
- Fine salt6 g
- Coarsely ground black pepper1 g
- Plain cake flour8 g1 tablespoon. Use plain soft-wheat cake flour without added starch or leavening.
- Unsalted butter90 g60g for browning and 30g, cubed and chilled, to finish the sauce.
- Olive oil30 ml
- Shallots2 shallotsAbout 60 g total; slice into half-moons.
- Garlic1 headSeparate the head into cloves and peel.
- Fresh thyme1 sprigUse a large sprig.
- Dry white wine375 ml1 half-bottle, such as Burgundy Aligoté or Chardonnay.
- Unsalted chicken stock250 mlUse a light stock. Use undiluted unsalted liquid chicken stock.
- Heavy cream (at least 40% fat)200 mlSelect plain fluid dairy cream whose label states at least 40% milk fat.
- Dijon mustard30 g2 tablespoons.
- Whole-grain mustard30 g2 tablespoons.
- Smoked bacon slices4 slices
Method
Preheat, season and flour the rabbit and cut the aromatics
- 1 Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- 2 Pat 4 rabbit legs dry, season with 6g salt and 1g black pepper and lightly dust with 8g cake flour.
- 3 Slice 2 shallots into half-moons and separate and peel 1 head of garlic.
Ready when
Continue when the rabbit has a thin, even flour coating.
Brown the rabbit in 2 batches and cook the aromatics
- 1 Heat 60g unsalted butter and 30ml olive oil over medium heat in a heavy, ovenproof 24cm pot with a lid. Brown 2 rabbit legs at a time for 3 minutes per side and remove.
- 2 Add the shallots, garlic and 1 thyme sprig to the same pot and cook over medium-low heat for 7 minutes.
Ready when
Continue when both sides of the rabbit are lightly golden and the shallots are softened and translucent.
Caution
Lower the heat if the butter begins to scorch.
Add wine and stock and braise covered at 180°C for 1 hour
- 1 Return the rabbit, add 375ml white wine and bring to a boil over medium heat.
- 2 Add 250ml chicken stock so the upper parts of the meat remain slightly exposed. Cover and braise in the oven at 180°C for 1 hour.
- 3 Cut into the thickest leg near the bone to check that the center is cooked.
Ready when
Continue when the meat is tender enough to begin separating from the bone and no red flesh remains at the thickest center.
Caution
The handles and lid are hot outside the oven; use thick oven mitts.
Keep the rabbit warm and bake the bacon
- 1 Lift the rabbit onto a warm plate, cover with foil and keep warm.
- 2 Line a baking sheet with parchment, arrange 4 bacon slices and bake at 180°C for 10 minutes.
Ready when
Continue when the rabbit is being kept warm and the bacon is in the oven.
Reduce and cream the sauce; add mustards and butter off the heat
- 1 Strain the cooking liquid through a fine strainer into the pot and reduce over medium heat to about 300ml.
- 2 Add 200ml cream and boil for 5 minutes.
- 3 Remove from the heat and whisk in 30g Dijon mustard, 30g whole-grain mustard and 30g cold unsalted butter.
- 4 Meanwhile(While making the sauce) Remove the bacon when crisp all the way to its edges.
Ready when
Continue when the sauce is smooth and thick enough to coat a spoon.
Caution
Boiling after adding mustard diminishes its aroma and can split the sauce.
Plate the rabbit with sauce and bacon
- 1 Place 1 rabbit leg on each warm plate and pour over the sauce.
- 2 Top each with 1 slice of baked bacon.
Ready when
The dish is ready when the rabbit is covered with sauce and topped with bacon.
About this dish
The pot of rabbit with mustard is filled with white wine from Burgundy, home to the mustard town of Dijon.
Dijon mustard is a preparation name rather than a guarantee of origin. In 1929, the Paris court of appeal dismissed a claim by Dijon’s producers’ association, ruling that its quality came neither from local raw materials nor from a method exclusive to the area. Jean Naigeon, who opened a mustard factory in Dijon in 1756, is said to have replaced the vinegar mixed with mustard seeds with verjuice, the juice of unripe grapes.
The rabbit at the center of the dish was also widely cooked in 17th-century France, where it was already raised in hutches and fed cabbage.
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