This is the recipe Rowley Leigh teaches you to cook in the first episode of his online cookery course, A History of Cooking.  In the film he shows how to joint a rabbit and even how to skin it, while at the same time explaining what the joints of meat on any animal are.  Out you go to the rabbit warrens with your ferrets, nets and lurcher. Pick some ceps from the woods as you go: supper will be free.  For those without ferrets, lurchers, guns or a wood: rabbit is cheap, mushrooms are in season. VH

Rabbit with Ceps

1 wild rabbit
2 tablespoons flour
3 onions
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
250 grams ceps
50 grams unsalted butter

Joint, or ask your butcher to, the rabbit into six pieces, two legs, the saddle cut in two and the front split likewise. Heat a large and deep casserole dish. Add half the butter with a dessertspoon of olive oil and, as soon as it foams, add the rabbit pieces. Turn down the heat so the meat gently browns without the butter burning. Once browned, turn over the rabbit pieces and brown in turn. Once browned, lift out the rabbit pieces and discard the cooking fat.

Peel the onions and slice them thinly. Melt the rest of the butter and add the onions. Cook them on a medium heat so that they colour gently as they soften. Dust the onions with the flour and cook a few minutes longer, turning them occasionally. Once they are a nice golden brown, add the sugar and caramelise the onions. Before the caramel starts to burn, add the vinegar and scrape up the juices that have stuck to the pan. Let the vinegar evaporate completely and then add the rabbit pieces, the thyme and the white wine. Bring very gently to the boil and skim off any scum that comes to the surface. Cover the casserole and put in a moderate oven Mark 4, (180 C, 350 F) for one and a half hours.

Trim the ceps and rinse them if grimy. Slice them thickly. Toss them in hot olive oil and then add to the casserole. Return the casserole to the heat for ten minutes. The rabbit should be perfectly tender and come away easily from the bone. Check the seasoning and then serve immediately with some creamy mashed potatoes.