Growing up poor in northern New York during the 1950's is not something I recall with a lot of fondness. It had to be a challenge for my parents to make ends meet. Our family consisted of nine hungry children and a couple of beagles for hunting rabbits. The monthly welfare check and federal surplus food never went far enough and we were thankful for the line a credit my mother had at the local grocery.

Oh, we didn't starve because we had the great outdoors with its forests, swamps, ponds, streams and rivers to provide us with plenty of wild game. We hunted and fished and learned the ways of the wild animals and how to shoot and trap enough rabbit, raccoon, deer, and grouse to make great family meals. We never had seafood. Instead there was walleye, bullhead, bass and perch to fry in lard over a hot wood stove. I can almost smell it now.

Venison always made for a great meal, if you could get it. But having enough money to buy shells for the .32-20 my father had borrowed from his uncle was always a problem. Besides, that thing couldn't hit a barn from the inside. We relied upon the power of an old single shot 12-gage Hopkins and Allen shotgun that had once belonged to my grandfather and my oldest brother's .22 Ithaca semi-automatic rifle. There was also an three round, bolt action Western Field 20-gage that saw plenty of service and brought home more than its share of ducks, grouse and rabbits.

My mother didn't have much help around the kitchen. Three boys made up the first flock of children in the family. We, along with the beagles, suffered the cold and the snow to hunt almost daily for table game. We knew the woods and the lairs and where to look for the wily grouse and the invisible snow-white swamp hares. These were the staples of our daily diet during those lean fall and winter months of those hungry years. In the spring there would be muskrat, fish, wild ducks, teal and Canadian geese whenever the hunt was good and the hunter was better. Our job was to kill it and clean it. Mother cooked it, and here is a recipe for cooking rabbit that still makes me drool.

To begin, you need a couple of rabbits, naturally. Swamp bunnies aren't very large, but still make a good meal. Clean them well and make sure that they aren't diseased in any way. Cut them into serving size pieces. I like to leave the front legs attached and just split the back. The hind legs should be removed entirely. Get a large skillet, and season it with cooking oil. Here's the seasoning mix:

- Add a pound of fresh pork sausage or three smoked pork sausages. - A cup of beer, if you have it.
- cup of cider vinegar.
- cup of chicken broth. - cup of seasoned bread crumbs, or cup of wild or brown rice. - 1 teaspoon of caraway seeds or pine nuts if you like. - 1 teaspoon of lemon juice or lemon zest, just for the flavor. - 1 teaspoon of brown sugar.
- Salt and pepper to suit your taste.

Bring this to a boil and reduce heat, cover and simmer gently for about 2 hours. Skim off the fat if you don't like the taste of it. Make up some gravy from the drippings. Heap on a platter and serve it up.

I like to add three strips of precooked bacon for extra flavor, even though I don't care for the grease that comes from it even if it is fried in advance. It does wonders with the flavor of the rabbit.

Wild rabbit has a nice, almost delicate flavor on its own. It doesn't "taste like chicken", as we usually tell anyone that hasn't had it before and is suspicious of dining on wild game. This is one recipe that I'll always share, because Mom made it that way. Enjoy!

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