Run Rabbit Run!!

I was inspired tonight to make a meal with the theme ingredient beef - the inspiration coming from an Episode of Iron Chef America. Of course, beyond the ingredient beef, I had little to go on.

But I began pounding out a New York Striploin and resting it in a marinade of soya sauce, fish paste, rice wine vinegar, and a couple of drops of sesame oil. . . oh, and a bit of Magner's Cider because I was looking for something fruity and that's what I had on hand. . . close at hand, actually.

I cut the pounded beef into two pieces and lined them with a piece of Nori; spread some jade rice (that I had prepped sushi style) across the Nori, and then lay some thinly sliced cucumber strips across the rice. I rolled up the beef, maki-style, seared them on each side and then wrapped the two rolls in a piece of rice paper that I had softened in boiling water.

Accompanying these maki beef rolls I made some dumplings stuffed with beef, a small amount of pork, and some aromatics. Looking for crispy texture I fried these to make pot stickers.

And I served the maki rolls and the pot stickers on top of a bed of braised baby Bok Choy. And my regular dining partner left 3 pieces of Bok Choy!!

Now, I picture these three pieces of Bok choy. . . baby bok choy. . . that gave their lives for this meal tonight. And then I tormented her with the plea's from these poor bok choy children. . . "no, no, come back - we've given our lives for you. . . all we want is to be eaten - to bring pleasure. . . please.... oh pleeease. . ."

And then, watching TV after dinner, I was drawn back to Iron Chef America. Tonight was the premier episode featuring the newest Iron Chef, Michael Symon; and he was confronted by Canadian Chef, Guy Rubino (Rain). . . and the feature, theme, secret, ingredient was Rabbit!! Seriously. . . rabbit!! Now, Rabbit trumps Duck as the ultimate cute animal - and as my friends know, I don't eat cute animals.

So picture these two young chefs scrambling to the Chairman's "throne" stocking up on rabbit carcasses, all nestled, legs curled up with one another, and snug - and then breaking them down. Only in America!

Serioursly! I'm picturing the American Rabbit Coalition. . . or the Coalition of American Rabbit Farmers. . . or the People's Rabbit Front. . ., or the Popular Front for American Rabbits. . . , lobbying the Food Network for their place at the table - so to speak.

I recently finished Michael Ruhlman's testament to cooking perfection, The Soul of a Chef. Towards the end of this book, while recounting Thomas Keller's role in the road to perfection, he conveys a story told by the great chef of his first encounter in cooking rabbits, in which he "was alone in the grass with eleven cute little bunnies. . . soft fur, long ears, little pink noses, warm yearning eyes. . . rabbits scream. . . and this one screamed really loud. . . it was awful experience he said. He tried to kill it but the rabbit was screamin so loud and struggling to get away the work was difficult. Then the rabbit's leg snapped as it struggled to get away. So while it was still terrified and now likely in great pain, it could no longer get away, and Keller managed to kill it! "

And that taught him Respect! "He took the Life, and so he wouldn't waste it".

But what about Iron Chef America is going to teach the average viewer - the average American viewer, no less - Respect!

Rabbit is not yet a mainstream ingredient in the way that pork, beef, fish, chicken, or even fois gras is. I can't help wondering if someone has an agenda to scale that pinnacle. When you see an entire carcass, front legs, back legs, neck and paws on a table - being broken down and seared - your're either an extra in out take of Deliverance, lost in in the back woods of Kentucky - or being manipulated by Corporate America!

I love food - and I can deal with a lot of nasty bits - but that was gratuitous. For a nation obsessed with Terrorism, make room for the Popular People's Front for the Liberation of Rabbits. As Telly Savalas would say "scream baby scream!"