The culinary artmanteau

   rabbit rabbit rabbit to welcome the month of February, the month of Lincoln Darwin Day and of Valentine’s Day (this year, Mardi Gras doesn’t come until early in March)

It’s Rabbit Day, and what happens to be at the top of my posting queue has nothing to do with rabbits; it’s a Bizarro cartoon (from yesterday, 1/31) with a tasty culinary artmanteau:

(#1) The portmanteau Michelancho = Michelangelo (the 16th-century Italian artist Michelangelo Buonarotti, painter of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome) + ancho (the dried poblano chili / chile pepper) (if you’re puzzled by the odd symbols in the cartoon — Wayno says there are 3 in this strip — see this Page)

(an alternative culinary artmanteau: (Michelangelo) Anchorotti  = ancho + Buonarotti)

(plus, I note that #1 is about Michelangelo the Ancho Honcho, the Man of La Mancho, also one of the lesser-known film Manchowiczes, etc.)

Now some brief notes on anchos, and then a surprise finale in which today’s rabbits get cooked with anchos, in the triumph of culinary artistry conejo en adobo with red chiles, which you can think of as Rabbit Michelancho.

Hot peppers. From Wikipedia:

The poblano (Capsicum annuum) is a mild chili pepper originating in Puebla, Mexico.

(#2)  Green poblanos on the vine, from the Territorial Seed Company

Dried, it is called ancho or chile ancho, from the Spanish word ancho (wide).

(#3) Ground anchos from Penzey’s Spices

Stuffed fresh and roasted, it is popular in chiles rellenos poblanos.

… The ripened red poblano is significantly hotter and more flavorful than the less ripe, green poblano.

Anchos are mild to moderate in heat, with an earthy chocolatey flavor.

Rabbit Michelancho. From Hank Shaw’s Hunter Angler Gardener Cook site, a recipe for red-chile rabbit — conejo en adobo with red chiles (ancho chiles and puya chiles) — that sounds fabulous. The finished product:

(#4) Rabbit Michelancho on a platter;  Shaw says, “This recipe is from Tamaulipas, in northeastern Mexico, and is a great, simple way to serve rabbit with a Mexican flair”

You make a broth from a rabbit, cut into serving pieces, simmering it with onions, garlic, Mexican oregano, epazote, and hoja santa or avocado leaves; and you make a mole-like sauce, in many steps, from toasted dried chiles, allspice, grated Mexican chocolate, onion, garlic, some of the rabbit broth, and tomatoes (a blender is used crucially here), and lard or vegetable oil (so, yes, hot oil too); finally, the rabbit pieces go into the sauce and then onto a plate, where they’re garnished with Mexican oregano “and maybe some cilantro or chopped green onions”. You will have sauce left over, which “is great with pretty much any meat, as well as oily fish, or beans”. (30 minutes prep time, 2 hours cooking time)

An obviously challenging task; it does sound wonderful, but not to be attempted by the culinarily innocent.

I’m a fan of rabbit, from childhood on, but especially the lovely lapin à la moutarde that Ann Daingerfield Zwicky made as a simple everyday dish oh so many years ago. And also of chili-flavored Mexican food. Here they come together in a dish that’s the stuff of fantasy.