German Rabbit: Hasenpfeffer in a Crock-pot

 This is undoubtedly thought of as a cool or cold weather dish, but hey, I had a frozen rabbit I wanted to use, so here we go...

Germans have a long history of preparing rabbit,* with their most famous dish being "Hasenpfeffer," a dish of hare/rabbit marinated in vinegar, wine and seasonings, which is then usually braised on the stove top, or baked, but a crock-pot is ideal for this. As with all popular dishes, there are variations in the recipes, at times reflecting regional preferences, as "some" Germans, for example, add ground paprika, a seasoning they picked up from the Hungarians.** Some add smoked bacon or unsmoked pork belly,*** while hunting families often use the blood of the rabbit in the cooking process, although  blood sausage (German: "Blutwurst") is often substituted. Some use white wine, some add egg yolks and others add red currant jelly or jam. Some of these dishes are not called "Hasenpfeffer," but rather  they are called by regional dialectal names. In Hessen, Pfalz (Palatinate) and the Rhineland, a variation is called "Dippehas" (pronounced, "dippeh-hahz"), which means, "pot or jug (ged) hare," where the rabbit or hare is cooked in a (non reactive) metal or crock ware pot with a tight fitting lid. Traditionally, the lid of the pot is only opened when the cooked rabbit is brought to the table, thus dispensing the wonderful aroma to the assembled diners. "Dippe" is a dialect word for "pot." In the Black Forest area (German: Schwarzwald), another similar dish is called "Eingemachter Haas" ("put up**** or preserved hare," and "Haas" is the dialect spelling of standard German "Hase"). By the way, German has an expression that is equivalent to English, "That's the fly in the ointment," or, "That's the fly in the buttermilk," which sort of ties in with this recipe: "Da liegt der Hase im Pfeffer," which literally means, "There lies the hare in the pepper," but the real meaning of which, like it's English cousin, is: "there is a problem that spoils the whole plan or course of action in some issue," as there is no escape for a rabbit, once it's in the pepper. 


Ingredients:

1 rabbit/hare, cut up
flour, seasoned with salt and pepper to coat the rabbit pieces
2 1/2 cups red wine
3/4 cup cup red wine vinegar
1 cup beef broth
2 carrots, sliced or chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large garlic clove, minced or finely chopped
1  3 to 4 inch piece of pork belly (non smoked) 
2  half inch slices of blood sausage
2 teaspoons dried thyme
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
10 peppercorns, slightly crushed
2 bay leaves
6 to 8 juniper berries, slightly crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt (can be omitted or use just a pinch, if the beef broth is high salt content)
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
2/3 cup sour cream
3 to 5 tablespoons flour mixed with equal amount of water
2 or 3 tablespoons canola oil or other neutral oil

In a non reactive container, add the wine, the red wine vinegar, the beef broth, the carrots, the garlic and the onion. Place the rabbit pieces into the dish, making certain the pieces are all covered by the marinade (add more wine, if necessary). Cover and refrigerate for 2 days, turning the rabbit pieces once or twice a day. After 2 days, remove the rabbit pieces (they will be purplish in color), pat them dry and lightly coat each piece with seasoned flour. Reserve the marinade. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Brown the flour coated rabbit pieces in the hot oil. To your crock pot/slow cooker, add the reserved marinade, the pork belly piece (left whole), the blood sausage slices (left whole), the thyme, the cloves, the peppercorns, the juniper berries, the bay leaves, the parsley and the salt (if using). Stir to mix, then add the browned rabbit pieces. The rabbit will likely be covered or just about covered by the marinade and seasoning mixture, but if not completely covered, that should happen as it cooks. Cook on "high" for one hour, then reduce to "low," cook a further 5 to 7 hours.

Try to carefully remove the rabbit pieces and the pork belly. I took the rabbit meat off of the bones. Strain the broth. I picked through the strained out items and took out the blood sausage (which will have "melted down" a good bit) and carrots and added them to the rabbit (the blood sausage can now be chopped). I then discarded the other strained out vegetables and seasonings (there were also a couple of small rabbit bone pieces). Put the broth into a sauce pan and heat to a simmer. Gradually whisk the flour mix into the hot liquid, whisking constantly, until the sauce reaches the thickness you desire. Cook for another minute or two, then remove the sauce from the heat for a few minutes before whisking in the sour cream. Serve with noodles or spaetzle (German: "Spätzle") and whole berry cranberry sauce (or lingonberry jam).    

* The German word "Hase" is the relative of English "hare," and indeed, a hare and a rabbit are closely related, with a few differences, although I dare say, most of us in the general public cannot tell anyone even one of the differences. I wonder if Bugs Bunny knows the difference?

** Hungary is famous for its paprika. I knew a Hungarian couple and they used ground paprika in everything. The wife was an immigrant to the United States as a teenager in the 1920s, and the husband was born in the U.S., not long after his parents arrived here.

*** Rabbit/hare is pretty lean, so my guess is, that's probably one of the reasons why the Germans add a little "fatty" meat, either bacon or pork belly. Hey, if you hopped around all day, you'd be pretty lean too. "Do the bunny hop... hop, hop, hop!"  

**** Since I have many readers from a wide variety of countries, many of whom are learning English, while others may not always understand every expression, the term "put up" has several meanings, but in the usage here, it refers to "food items put into sealed containers to prevent spoilage, and thus are able to be stored for later use." A closely related term by meaning is, "canned," although it doesn't mean the storage container is necessarily made of metal; as in fact, home "canning" (the noun for the process) is overwhelmingly done by using glass jars with lids that seal in the content.     

Hasenpfeffer with noodles/sauce and lingonberry jam.

WORD HISTORY:
Strain (#1)-There is more than one word of this spelling in English, but this is the noun meaning, "breed or kind of a living organism," often, but not exclusively, used nowadays in reference to bacteria or viruses, as in, "This year's flu is from an especially nasty strain of the flu virus." It is distantly related to "strew,'' a native English word from its Germanic roots, and it goes back to Indo European "streh/struh," which meant, "spread out, scatter about." This was a derivative of Indo European "stereh," which meant, "to spread, to stretch out." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "streunan," meaning, "to heap up, to gain, to acquire," which produced the noun, "streunam" ("a heap, an acquisition"). This gave Old English the noun "streon," ^ meaning, "a gain (thus also, wealth), an acquisition." From this emerged the idea of "producing, generating;" thus, "having, adding offspring," which further became, "a breed or kind of offspring." This produced "strynd," meaning, "kin, tribe." This seems to have eventually melded with "streon" to become "streen," then "strene," before the modern form with the long "a" sound.

^ It also produced "gestreon," which meant, "a business or trade gain;" thus, "a profit."