The 5‑year-old cook’s helper grabbed a small ramekin of salt and prodded the slab of raw, pink-skinned meat.
“This is the rabbit,” said Massimo Lopez-Sincavage. “But don’t worry, it’s not a real rabbit,” he said. Meaning: It wasn’t anybody’s pet.
Massimo prepared the popular rabbit dish with his uncle, Marc Sincavage, at Skappo Italian Wine Bar at 59 Crown St. The dish is called coniglio con pancetta, or rabbit with pancetta.
Massimo sprinkled both sides of the meat with salt and pepper while his uncle Marc started braising the pancetta, or Italian bacon, in olive oil. The salty, smoky meat sizzled, filling the air with that unmistakable bacon scent that drives meat-eaters crazy with desire. The savory pork fat blended with the oil, creating a flavorful base for the crucial next step.
Caitlin Emma Photo
Massimo and Uncle Marc prepare to make coniglio con pancetta.
Then he prepared the “mirepoix,” or the holy trinity, to throw in the salty, pork fat-infused oil.
The holy trinity consists of onions, carrots and celery, with some special seasoning. Salt, pepper, garlic powder and a “secret ingredient” are sauteed with the three vegetables. The result is a simple, but incredibly aromatic mixture that creates the flavor base for a wide variety of dishes.
When the vegetables cooked down to a translucent mix, Marc removed the vegetables and pancetta, placing them aside. Then he poured pinot grigio into the pot where everything had been cooking. The white wine picked up the leftover flavor at the bottom of the pan and created a light sauce in which to braise the rabbit.
“Now what are we going to do with the rabbit?” Massimo asked.
“We’re going to cook it!” Marc said.
The rabbit hit the pan with a loud sizzle. Marc braised it in the fragrant blend of leftover mirepox, white wine, olive oil and pancetta fat. He let both sides of the rabbit hit a crisp, golden brown. Then he added the mirepoix, pancetta and a half cup of homemade tomato sauce into the pot with the rabbit. Marc poured a generous amount of white wine into the pot and covered it all with a lid.
After about an hour and a half, Marc and Massimo’s coniglio con pancetta would be complete.
But despite taking up cooking before starting kindergarten, Massimo doesn’t have much of an appetite for rabbit. He prefers chicken fingers instead.
When it was done, he grabbed a plate and passed it to his uncle. Marc grabbed a juicy, dripping hunk of rabbit meat and placed it on the plate. The mirepoix, white wine, pancetta and olive oil reduced down to a thick, savory sauce. Marc generously ladled the vegetables and sauce over the meat.
“BON APPETIT!!!” Massimo yelled.
The chaotic teamwork between 5‑year-old nephew and 30-year-old uncle is highly symbolic of the way things work at Skappo. It’s a family operation that opened in 2004. Marc and his mother Anna do the bulk of the cooking, but everyone takes a turn at running some part of the business. Anna’s husband Tom, daughter Yvette and other son Michael (Massimo’s dad) also work at Skappo.
Skappo opened in 2004 when Anna Sincavage had a revelation. She pointed to the wall, where a bottle of champagne rested on a ledge. She said it was a gift from her parents, who told her to “celebrate life,” but she didn’t understand what that really meant until they had both passed away.”
“I opened Skappo because I wanted to honor my parents and celebrate life,” she said. So one day, she asked all her children what they thought about leaving their jobs to come work for a family business.
“We were kind of like, OK, we’ll just do this and jump in,” said Yvette, who was in her mid-twenties, working at a public relations firm in Boston when her mom called with the idea.
Now Anna’s three children are all in their thirties and fully invested in the restaurant. The family also manages Skappo Merkato, a small luncheonette and store around the corner at 51 Orange St. Skappo Merkato sells Italian food products imported from Italy, including olive oil bottled by Anna’s own family.
Anna said “Skappo” comes from a poem written by St. Francis of Assisi and essentially means, “to escape.”
“The best compliment people can pay me is when they come in and say, ‘I feel like I’m in my own kitchen,’” she said.
Skappo Italian Wine Bar, 59 Crown St., 203 – 773-1394. Open Wed.-Thurs. 4:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 4:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. and Sun. 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., Closed Mon.-Tues.
