Were rabbits or hares ever baked in clay?

[u/deirox]

I've been reading about a historical cooking method where they'd encase a bird or fish in clay or mud (sometimes wrapping it in leaves first) and bake it over the embers in its own juices. Probably the most famous example is Beggar's chicken from China.

And this Youtuber The Wooded Beardsman demonstrated a technique of packing an unplucked bird in mud and cooking it because the feathers come off alongside the hardened shell. According to a comment on this subreddit, hedgehogs were also prepared in Europe like this, presumably because just like with feathers, the spines would come off with the shell and save a lot of work.

What I'm wondering is, are there any historical accounts of rabbits or hares being cooked in clay? Because it's very lean meat, you'd think it might be a good candidate for being cooked in its own juices to prevent it drying out, but I'm unable to find any mentions of this.

[u/MidorriMeltdown]

Because it's very lean meat, you'd think it might be a good candidate for being cooked in its own juices to prevent it drying out, but I'm unable to find any mentions of this.

Indeed, though perhaps not using the technique you're thinking of.

There is a dish called jugged hare, which involves packing the meat into a clay jug (or glass jar), sealing it, and placing it into boiling water.

I know of it because it was modified in colonial Australia, and used to cook kangaroo, I founding while looking for colonial era recipes. The meat, some bacon and herbs, packed into a jar in layers, sealed, and put in the billy to boil. Convenient, because with one just pot to use, food was cooked and water was boiled for tea.

The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, by Hannah Glasse, 1784 has a recipe for jugged hare. It's so similar to the Australian colonial dish that it's probably the recipe it was modified from.

So, to answer your question. Yes. Hares were cooked in clay (jugs).

[u/mumpie]

Consider the 2 examples (plucking a bird or despinning a hedgehog) you cite are animals that require extra handling to process the animal to cook.

You can field dress a rabbit in a few minutes and be ready to cook on a spit or cut up for a stew. There's no need to use an elaborate technique that allows you to cook an animal in it's fur.

The following video shows a technique for skinning a rabbit and it's done in a little over 4 minutes. I don't recommend watching it if you are squeamish or don't want to see blood and entrails of an animal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5XjNCYVJHM

[u/big_sugi → u/mumpie]

The same/similar technique is used with fish, though, and that’s even easier to process than rabbit.