RABBIT AND BACON PUDDING

Poaching has always been a part of country life and weather you were on the side of the poacher or the squire depended upon how hungry you were. My father was an adept and a steady stream of rabbits' pheasants and hares came our way. Trout ,caught by tickling, an art for which I became famous as a child, appeared regularly on our table.

By the time my little brother was old enough to go to school the bad times were over but Dad still like the occasional rabbit pie, as did we all. Some call it stealing,others call it living off the land, I tend towards the later view,and besides all the gamekeepers we knew were as bent as a five bob note and would have sold their grannies hide , supposing they could get a price for it.

When ever a contraband piece of game arrived at home father would say to mum or I .”Get it under a crust woman, then who's to know what the meat is.” I believe this saying ,or something like it is a country-wide one.

RABBIT PUDDING

1 rabbit

12 rashers of streaky bacon

1 onion cut into rings

1 carrot diced

12 oz self raising flour

6 oz beef suet

half a teaspoon of salt

about half a pint of chicken stock

Remove the meat from the skinned rabbit and set aside. Place the bones in a stock pot with a bay leaf, 12 peppercorns a whole onion,Add 2/3 pints of water depending on the size of the pot and bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for about four hours until the liquid in well reduced.

Roll the bacon in to curls and secure with a toothpick,fry in a little oil until brown then remove from heat and set aside.

Peel and slice the onion in to rings,peel and chop the carrot in to small dice.

Grease a 2pt heatproof pudding basin. Sieve the flour in to a blow ,add the salt and the suet, then add the water and mix to a firm dough. Cut off about a quarter of the dough and set aside for the lid.

Roll out the large piece of dough to fit the bowl making sure that you have about an inch of dough overhanging all round the basin. Add the stock until it almost reaches the top of the pudding.

Place the pieces of rabbit in the bottom of the lined basin,next add the bacon curls which can be cur in half if liked. Next lay the onion rings on top of the bacon and top with the diced carrot.

Dampen the edges of the crust the roll out the smaller piece of dough to make a lid. Place the pastry lid on top of the pudding , press the two edges together then roll inwards to form a ring. Decorate by pinching the edging together at 1 inch intervals.

Cover the pudding with a piece of none stick greased proof paper with a 1 inch pleat to allow for the rising. Top with a piece of foil again with the pleat. Secure with string.

Place a trivet or an upturned saucer in the bottom of a large pan. Make a sling from foil and lay this inside the and and out over both sides, this will make it easy to remove the pudding to serve.

Place the pudding into the pan and add water to just over half way up the pudding basin,bring to the boil then reduce hear and simmer for four hours .

Use some of the stock from the rabbit carcass to make gravy adding a little apple jelly or redcurrant jelly and a splash of balsamic vinegar to taste.

Serve the pudding with a big jug of gravy and mushy peas or boiled carrots.