Saturday 24 May 2008
Today the collie -Seobhag fìorghlan na h-ealtainn- did his job & chased down a big spring rabbit. When his turbo kicks in, that dug can shift - he took it down fair & square in open ground. Primal grunt. Today, tea was an easy process of skinning & preparation. These are the quiet bonuses of distant island life. Food is out there in many forms, if you look & have the basic skills to utilize it. From knowing your seaweeds, walking up to a wild goose without it seeing you [easy] & crustacean surgery. These are the dying skills of a thousand generations & being able to matter-of-factly live like this on remote solo kayaking trips, can be a life saver, & ordinarily, a simple lunch stop. The Coop is merely for beer, when you eventually wander briefly back into village life. I've left out the gutting process to preserve the mental welfare of those with a more squeamish constitution. I'll likely dry some of this meat into jerky for long kayak crossings in a mixed bag of Guga, dried in the same fashion. Natures glucose in it's fashion. This life is about walking barefoot at every opportunity, about feeling each stone & root underfoot, getting in, getting dirty, & getting levelled - Inuit or Hebridean. They dug & me...we love it. We're a team of sorts - even if he does fart inside the bivvy way to often...

1]Remove the feet first - always at the knee joint. Rabbit bones splinter into sharp shards.
2]Make a surgical cut along the underbelly. Remove all internal organs.
3]Pull the skin outward toward the flanks & over the rear feet. A bit like pulling a sock off. You should end up with a handbag. Remove tail.
4]Strip skin backward to the head, leaving it on as a grip. Everything should come off in one piece, ergo, preserving the pelt. Severe head under the skin. Optional: Remove rear tendons to bind as fishing line, boot lace or Taqqat etc.
5] Wipe clean with damp cloth. De-bone.
6]Go forth & make pie.

•≈ Bunny Wabbit graphic warning≈•


Fred - cute little brown bunny was hopping around a sunny field an hour ago

Peeling the skin away from the meat - normally Fred would get paunched in the field. The handbag method.

Freds dead baby - Freds dead...
Being the nice one, you will notice I have arranged Fred in such a fashion that he can observe his own autopsy. I don't care what the hippies say - THIS, is a a true out of body experience.


The remainder of Freds furry side will make a groovy glove puppet :o)
Next week, how to sauté a seal.
 
posted by •≈ Sgian Dubh at 16:36:00 |


3 Retorts:


At 26 May 2008 at 23:33, Blogger Douglas Wilcox

Expertly disected machair fed wabbit, de lic ious!

Sauted sammy seal, now that's a meal. How do you catch Sammy? traditional spear or high velocity rifle?

:o)

 

At 30 May 2008 at 14:55, Blogger •≈ Sgian Dubh

Hi Doug,

Did you get up to Harris & Lewis yet? Or is that later into summer? Drop me a line if you want to explore some sea arches & sample some seal pie :o)

 

At 13 June 2008 at 23:05, Blogger Douglas Wilcox

Greetings Si, we arrived at Bhaltos on 30th May and returned there on 6th June. We had a very stimulating paddle round Pabbay Mor on the 5th. There were one or two largish swells making there way into Loch Roag!