Re: The invention of happiness

1

You can definitely substitute the rabbit by a well-fed pampered city cat.

Yes we can!


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 02- 5-08 11:21 AM
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2

I finally had to look up the Bob the Builder references people had been making and holy shit that's funny.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 02- 5-08 11:27 AM
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3

Off-topic by comment two. I see how it is.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 02- 5-08 11:30 AM
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4

Years ago in Athens I was sent to market to get a couple rabbits, and was warned not to buy anything that didn't still have the tail on it, because otherwise you couldn't be sure you weren't buying stray cat.


Posted by: potchkeh | Link to this comment | 02- 5-08 11:31 AM
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5

And that is a beautiful-looking sorbet!


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 02- 5-08 11:34 AM
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6

Presumably it would have to be a fairly young cat, though.

Also, if it's *my* cat, I'm totally going to go collect fifty rats and release them into the walls of your house.


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 02- 5-08 11:36 AM
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7

Presumably it would have to be a fairly young cat, though.

It's a stew, so maybe not.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 02- 5-08 11:38 AM
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8

Why does the sorbet recipe call for mineral water as opposed to tap?


Posted by: washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 02- 5-08 11:42 AM
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9

Oh, the comments to the rabbit stew recipe have a lot of interesting discussion about eating cats and whatnot, including a recipe for cat.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 02- 5-08 11:43 AM
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10

I was hoping that the recipe used almonds liked the other two recipes you linked so you could rename the recipe using the old hovertext.


Posted by: Becks | Link to this comment | 02- 5-08 11:43 AM
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11

holy shit that's funny

I'm not in on the joke. I wanna know!


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 02- 5-08 11:47 AM
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12

11 gets it exactly right.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 02- 5-08 11:48 AM
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13

8: Presumably because mineral water is going to be fizzier and thus lighter (at least, I was assuming it was carbonated water) or at least have a slightly more mineraly (and thus, more anti-sweet) taste.


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 02- 5-08 12:16 PM
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14

I think it was still, and presumed that since the only ingredients are sugar, water, and almonds, you want to be able to control what's going in? Who knows what comes out of that guy's tap.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 02- 5-08 12:18 PM
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15

11: You feminists have no sense of humor. Go to Standpipe's blog.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 02- 5-08 12:20 PM
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16

11: Come on apo, don't hint around, give us the full chorus.

And I'm here to remind you
Of the fact that I'm not in on the joke.
It's not fair to deny me
Of the cross I bear, that you gave to me
I, I, I wanna know

Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 02- 5-08 12:30 PM
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17

The place where I used to cook also sold upscale cheeses and deli meats, etc. My boss once ordered smoked rabbits from the place that we got andouille, tasso and so on from. Four whole smoked rabbits. As he put it, "they look like chihuahuas that got caught in a nuclear blast". So he declined to put them in the case and we made smoked rabbit terrine after a lengthy and annoying process of getting all the meat off the bones.


Posted by: Timothy Burke | Link to this comment | 02- 5-08 12:34 PM
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18

13: Mineral water does not denote carbonated in my idiolect.

14: How is it harder to discover the contents of an average unit of a given municipality's water than it is to to discover the contents of an average unit of a given mineral water company's water?


Posted by: washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 02- 5-08 1:12 PM
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19

The Scottish Diet is an ingenious nutritional system invented by the Scots to keep their pension funds in balance by reducing the number of people who make it beyond the age of 60. Like many of the world's smartest inventions (most of them invented by the Scots), it is devilishly simple. It increases the premature death rate through a well-balanced diet:

The Scottish Diet
«Any and all thing you can eat
# But this proportion always heed: A third from fat
# A third from sugar
# A third from alcohol
From time to time, you can eat a small amount of fruits, in the form of jams or preserves, or even better, distilled.»


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 02- 5-08 1:25 PM
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20

Don't be silly - cat is never a good substitute for rabbit. It's got to be guinea pig. Usually available in any kindergarten classroom.


Posted by: DominEditrix | Link to this comment | 02- 5-08 1:49 PM
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21

My French husband patiently explains, in that way that they do, that rabbit does not taste anything like cat because rabbits are vegetarian and cats are carnivorous.


Posted by: Shamhat | Link to this comment | 02- 5-08 2:16 PM
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22

But if you fed a cat only on rabbit then it would end up tasting like essence of rabbit, surely.


Posted by: M/tch M/lls | Link to this comment | 02- 5-08 3:12 PM
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23

Rabbits eat essence of rabbit.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 02- 5-08 3:17 PM
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24

i can't eat rabbits, cats, dogs, frogs, any lizards, animal youngs, insects, crabs if it's not tempura
because i'm not chinese i guess
corn soup with vinegar
otherwise i can eat almost anything which is not spoiled, i can sense rot like a mile away
though prefer of course cooked food to raw
i'm not sure whether food makes me happy though
just feel indifferent and sometimes forget to eat
what i recalled, in old times hare's poo (not rabbit)was used as tobacco if ircc old folktales


Posted by: read | Link to this comment | 02- 5-08 3:30 PM
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25

19 is essentially true.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 02- 5-08 11:53 PM
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26

No, you use cats to substitute for hares; hence the WW2 Dutch nickname for cats: roofhares.


Posted by: Martin Wisse | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 12:44 AM
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27

25, 19: Northern Ireland is in culinary terms a part of Lowland Scotland, and when my son was working nights in a petrol staiton in Belfast he would have customers walk in at the end of a long evening's drinking and ask for five Cadbury's Crème Eggs -- a sort of chocolate easter egg with a viscous yellow filling of corn syrup -- which they would then eat as the whole of their evening meal.


Posted by: Nworb Werdna | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 2:13 AM
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28

About 30 years ago I went camping in the north of Scotland with some people who were vegetarian. It was... interesting. I still remember the day we found a cabbage for sale.


Posted by: OneFatEnglishman | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 2:57 AM
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29

Hmm, I reckon the correct approach to cat would be similar to the original coq au vin; the idea is that you use a tough old cock, brown it in the pot with the various alliums, and then pour in a bottle of red wine, stir it up and let it cook really slowly.

Question; should you leave the cat's head out of the pot?


Posted by: Alex | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 3:25 AM
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30

There's quite a nice looking dog recipe here. I imagine you could adapt it if you jointed the cat instead of trying to cube the meat.


Posted by: OneFatEnglishman | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 3:34 AM
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31

25: there are areas of Glasgow (specifically, Calton) where the male life expectancy is lower than it is in Baghdad. (56 vs 59)

Baghdad has religious death squads, automatic weapons, chemical bombs, artillery, suicide bombers, car bombs, kidnappings, open sewers, intermittent water and electricity supplies, incompetent police, overwhelmed health care and thousands of nervous, heavily armed US troops.

Calton is part of a city in a rich First World nation which is at peace, well policed, in good condition, and has at least reasonable health care; but it has The Scottish Diet.


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 5:43 AM
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32

20: A friend of mine worked in a lab with a South Asian PhD candidate who took home and ate the guinea pigs once their red cells had been harvested.

The only rabbit I've ever had was tough. It striked me as a stew meat, like a stewing hen.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 6:08 AM
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33

"strikes"


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 6:09 AM
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34

I've had cat. Tastes a lot like dog.


Posted by: Nakku | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 6:30 AM
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35

Rabbit is really nice but it is easy to cook badly and make tough. The traditional 'joint and then stew in red wine with lots of garlic' is reliable, though.

As per Alex's 29.

re: 31

To be fair it also has: heroin, alcoholism, smoking and fading memories of the glory days of the Tongs.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 6:31 AM
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36

Scotland takes drugs in psychic defence.

Or to take its mind off the food. Rabbit is a great idea; most places have far too many rabbits, too, so you can be a good citizen by disposing of a few. Speaking of odd meats, I've had kangaroo, which is OK, and camel pie; which is "Very Fucking Far From OK".


Posted by: Alex | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 6:34 AM
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37

We are not amused. Some of my best friends are rabbits.


Posted by: strasmangelo jones | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 6:51 AM
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38

By harvesting the superannuated rabbits you make more opportunities for the up-and-coming rabbits. Otherwise a class system sets in, with the older rabbits dominating and sexually abusing the younger rabbits.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 6:56 AM
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39

You can get rabbits (I think) for next to nothing in Sheffield market. We stew them in various ways, or make a terrine if we're feeling ambitious. OTOH hares come with this tough membrane all over them which it's half a day's work to get off unless you're an expert. So don't go thinking they're just big bunnies.


Posted by: OneFatEnglishman | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 6:56 AM
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40

Yeah, rabbits are cheap. Game in general is cheap. I was surprised to find that things I'd always though of as 'posh', e.g. pheasant, were actually as cheap (or cheaper) than chicken.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 7:12 AM
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41

I once helped clean out a rental house whose basement was 3-6" deep with rabbit droppings. They're pretty easy to raise.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 7:24 AM
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42

Of course if you run out of rabbits and cats, there's always these.


Posted by: OneFatEnglishman | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 7:50 AM
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43

And these.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 7:54 AM
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44

And these


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 7:59 AM
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45

I have a vague memory of reading at some point that there is or was a restaurant in Hong Kong that serves rat, indeed specialises in it, but which describes it on the English menu as "Super Deer".

The Cantonese menu called it rat.


Posted by: Alex | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 8:07 AM
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46

I notice the the recipe for Possum Creole, which calls for "1 slightly injured possum" nowhere says to kill it before you start cutting it into pieces. Wouldn't this put you at risk of slight injury yourself?


Posted by: OneFatEnglishman | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 8:07 AM
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47

And these!


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 8:15 AM
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48

Geoduck is a highly prized delicacy, though, despite its resemblance to a much larger version of Apo's most famous body part.

So are these, in some places.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 8:21 AM
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49

I ate one of these a couple of years ago. It was delicious, but incredibly rich - I had indigestion for three days.


Posted by: OneFatEnglishman | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 8:27 AM
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50

rats, what else those chinese can eat
have to modify my list of inedibles and include things i never knew existed
but i can eat little bits of well cooked marmots (prairie dogs?), not much just enough to get a taste
which is pretty dangerous too, coz it could be a plague host


Posted by: read | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 8:43 AM
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51

Plague seems to be carried by burrowing animals. There were a few cases in Oregon not too long ago.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 9:13 AM
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52

The lamprey probably tops the hagfish as a nasty-looking food item.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 9:14 AM
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53

49: That picture freaked me out.


Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 9:20 AM
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54

eel is what, unagi?
unagi in fact was delicious, the japanese eat it one special day in the summer, forgot what was it, may be tanabata
what i miss about japan is food, not all of course, may be okashi, cakes and icecream, those are very light and not all sugary sweet like here


Posted by: read | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 9:26 AM
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55

Alex! I tried to post a comment to your blog a couple of days ago and it seems to have vanished into the ether. What gives?


Posted by: Witt | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 9:32 AM
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56

Unagi is specifically freshwater eel I believe. Looks like this and is delicious.


Posted by: CJB | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 9:34 AM
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57

the difference is in the taste buds i think, what is too sweet or salty for me, for other people could be tasteless so they add more into their sweets


Posted by: read | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 9:37 AM
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58

the japanese eat it one special day in the summer

Doyo ushi no hi. Mmmm, unadon.


Posted by: Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 9:56 AM
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59

A friend in Paris once butchered a hare that another friend had killed. Per his wife's request, he setup his kitchen with plastic tarp everywhere. He didn't know what he was doing, but apparently websites will show you how to butcher a hare. He said that it wasn't too difficult, but that he was lucky when he was removing the insides somewhat haphazardly and yet did not burst the bladder (BIG MESS and ruins meat). He stewed it in red wine. I thought it tasted good, if not a bit bland, but the smell was horrendous. I have never eaten anything with such a disconnect between the smell and the taste.


Posted by: Willy Voet | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 10:07 AM
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60

The smell of the butchering was bad, or the smell of the cooked hare?

Also, aren't hares supposed to be jugged? (which I think means cooked in a casserole in some particular fashion.)


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 10:12 AM
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61

You have to be careful about eating too much rabbit, because you might starve.


Posted by: Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 10:12 AM
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62

58 exactly
just one uncomfortable thing about eating unagi, i feel always a strange headache after eating it as if you feel full in your head, i can like feel my frontal lobe :)
but it's not only unagi for example if i eat rice or potato noodles also
may be reach something like transient hyperglycemia


Posted by: read | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 10:22 AM
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63

OMG. This thread is going to turn me back into a vegetarian.


Posted by: Magpie | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 3:25 PM
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64

63: Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!


Posted by: Josh | Link to this comment | 02- 6-08 3:39 PM
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