Home › Game › Hare Pepper (German, Haasen Pfeffer)
Hare Pepper (German, Haasen Pfeffer)
Cut the hare into small convenient-sized joints. Fry these in hot butter until nicely browned, and with them 1 onion, sliced, and 3 ounces of bacon, cut into dice. Take out the hare, etc., while you brown 2 tablespoonfuls of flour in the butter. Add gradually 1 1/2 pints of water or stock, and, when it is smoothly mixed, put in the pieces of hare, 6 or 8 peppercorns, the rind of 1/2 lemon, 4 or 5 cloves, and the gravy from the dish in which the hare lay. Simmer gently for an hour or more. Put the pieces of hare into a dish, strain the gravy over them, and garnish with sliced lemon. When the hindmost part of the hare has been already served, the inferior joints are excellent cooked thus. The head should be split in two, and the liver cut into 2 or 3 pieces. Sufficient for three or four persons.
A plain braise of jointed hare in a brown roux, with the sharpness coming from lemon rind and cloves rather than the vinegar most modern Hasenpfeffer recipes use. The instruction that matters is the gentle simmer: hare is lean, dark and sinewy, and a hard boil will tighten it past rescue.
- Sourcing the hareWild hare is sold by game dealers, sometimes already skinned and jointed, and is much darker and stronger than rabbit. Farmed rabbit will work but is milder and leaner; it may be tender in 45 minutes to an hour rather than the hour or more specified here.
- "The gravy from the dish in which the hare lay"This means the blood and juices that collect under a hanging or resting hare, traditionally the thickening agent in the dish. If your hare comes without them, the sauce is still good; if you have them, stir them in off the boil at the end, as they will curdle if allowed to bubble.
- Liquid quantity1 1/2 pints is roughly 3 cups if the book is using American measure, closer to 3 3/4 cups if imperial. Start with 3 cups; the joints should be barely covered, and you can top up during the braise.
- The browned flourTwo tablespoons of flour cooked in the frying butter until it colours is a brown roux, and it wants patience over medium heat until it smells nutty. Add the liquid gradually and whisk each addition smooth before the next, or the sauce will stay lumpy no matter how long it simmers.
- BaconThree ounces is about 85 g, two or three thick rashers. Bacon of this period was often saltier and more heavily smoked than much supermarket bacon; unsmoked pancetta or slab bacon gives a closer result than thin streaky.
- Lemon rindPare the rind in strips with a knife or peeler and leave the white pith behind, since it turns bitter over an hour's simmering. The rind is strained out with the aromatics before serving.
- Head and liverBoth are optional now. If used, the liver cooks in minutes and should go in near the end rather than at the start, or it will be chalky.
- Yield and servingThree or four as written. Serve with something starchy to take the sauce: spaetzle, boiled potatoes or bread dumplings are the usual German accompaniments, with red cabbage alongside.