RURAL NEW-YORKER 
93 
Cooking Wild Rabbit 
How to Make Hasenpfeffer 
I would like you to tell how to cook 
wild rabbit, or how to make hasoiipfelTer. 
Pennsylvauia. mbs. .nelson. 
I’reparation. —There are some abso¬ 
lute essentials to be observed in prepar¬ 
ing a hare or rabbit (wild or otherwise) 
for cooking. Find out how old it is by 
tearing its ears. When the ears tear eas¬ 
ily it is young and can be roasted in a 
short time; when thty tear hard it is old 
and should be mellowed and cooked long¬ 
er; when they do not tear at all it is an 
ancient and is good only for hasenpfeffer. 
.\n absolute necessary proceeding before 
.skinning the animal is to empty its blad¬ 
der by passing the hand down its stomach 
several times, until you are sure n.> liquid 
is left in. Sometimes, of course, it does 
not contain any water. That applies also 
to other small game, woodchucks, for in¬ 
stance. and should really be done by the 
hunter, but is generally overlooked on 
account of ignorance The hunters in 
the old country, of C( urse, know it, so 
there is no trouble for the cook. If this 
procedure is omitted, and while drawing 
the animal the bladder is injured, there 
is but one thing to be done—to bury it, 
or else feed it to the dogs or chickens, for 
the ill-smelling liquid will penneate every 
scrap of meat, giving it the wildest, rank¬ 
est taste, quite impossible to stand. No 
wonder people cannot eat such game, but 
it is all because of not knowing the trick. 
How TO KEEP THE Meat.— In case 
there is plenty of meat in the hou.se so 
that it is desirable to keep the rabbit a 
few days longer, it can be hung up in a 
cool j)lace by its hind legs after the intes- 
t'nes and the stomach 1 ave been removed. 
The other internal organs are left in. 
There is another way of keeping it for 
a few days, after it is skinned and dres.sed. 
which at the same time mellows it and 
improves the flavor. It is best in this 
case to prepare the meat as for cooking. 
Fut off the Jiead, the neck, the brea.st and 
the soft parts of the abdomen ; some cooks 
take the front legs also; take the liver, 
the lungs, the heart and the kidneys, and 
keep all those parts separate for the 
hasenpfeffer. In order to keep them 
they must be treated like the rest of the 
meat. The fat. if rendered, makes a good 
lubricator for .sore throat and stiff mus¬ 
cles. far better than any high-priced pat¬ 
ent ointment. Now we have t the real 
roasting part, the back with the legs. 
Cleave with a chopper the tail end be¬ 
tween the hind legs. Be sure to remove 
every particle of the big intestine, and 
wash the outlet most carefully. Then 
wash the carcass, but do not let lie in 
water too long. Take off all the skins 
that still cover the naked carcass, on the 
back and under the legs. This is espe¬ 
cially necessary with wild hares and jack- 
rabbits. which, as our cook used to say. 
have nine skins. 
“Tendering” the :\Ikat. — There are 
three good ways to keep the meat for 
several days, and t' give it an added 
flavor. It also renders the older animal 
more tender: a. Keeping the small |)ieces 
and the roasting ptieces .separate', place 
them into a ve.ssel with sour milk, enough 
to cover them, turn' ig them every day. 
This method gives the rabbits a re'al 
game flavor, b. Lay the meat in weak 
cider vinegar and n it every day. 
This is not quite so good, as the vinegar 
is apt to take away from the refinement of 
the flavor, c. The meat can also be laid 
in a marinade of vinegar, onion.s. pep¬ 
per seeds, allspice, a few cloves, one or 
two bay-leaves and a few juniper berries. 
Every one of the above named ways is 
<'xcy'llent and may give a,n agreeable 
change when rabbits are plentiful. 
Boasti.ng. —The best, most palatable 
way of cooking a hare or rabbit is roast¬ 
ing it; then the haseiipfelfer is only a 
by-product. Whichever way the meat 
has been prepared, whether fresh or mel¬ 
lowed, the next step is to rinse and wipe 
it. Bemember, we have only the back 
and runners to deal with. Now it has 
to be larded with bacon or salt pork— 
my preference being bacon—so it looks 
like a porcupine. Then butter is melted 
in the roasting pan to a golden brown, a 
smaller piece for a wild rabbit, a good, 
generous piece for a hare or jack-rabbit. 
T(» prevent the butter from getting brown, 
add a little light soup stock or even water. 
Lay the rabbit into the pan, back upward; 
salt it and put into the oven. If it is an 
older animal the oven should be only 
m()d(‘rat(' at first, so that the meat gets 
tender before it gets brown. Young rab¬ 
bits. get done in 1.5 or 20 hiinutes, older 
ones need at least .‘>0 minutes, and a full- 
grown jack needs from 4.5 to 50 miuute.s, 
or even an hour. While roasting it must 
be basted, and basted, and basted with 
the gravy, to which boiling water-must be 
added when it goes down. When it is 
half done pour a cupful of sour cream 
over it and keep on basting until the 
roast is a golden brown. The more sour 
cream is used the better it will taste. 
When the rabbit is tender take it out and 
place it on a hot platter in the oven. 
Now place the roasting pan on top of the 
vstove. add a little light soup stock or 
boiling water and let the gravy boil off 
the pan. Take off the fat. add more 
cream and a little flour blended with 
cream, enough to get the desired thick¬ 
ness. Strain the whole and add a little 
lemon juice to give it zest. Pour some of 
the gravy over the rabbit on the platter 
and some into the gravy boat. Bon ap¬ 
petite ! 
Another Recipe. — Instead of using 
butter in starting the roast, dice some 
salt pork or tine suet; instead of larding 
the meat lay slices of bacon or salt pork 
on its back, adding boiling water at once 
to the fat in the pan. Then proceed as 
in the first recipe, with or without cream. 
Or if no cream is at hand, rich milk may 
be substituted for it. 
Hasenpfeffer. — It is pronounced 
hahzen-p-feffer. Note also the spelling. 
Another name for it is hasenklein (hah- 
zen-kline) ; translated, spiced or peppered 
hare or spiced r bbit .stew. As a by¬ 
product of roast rabbit the head, neck, 
breast, the .soft parts of the abdomen, the 
liver, lungs, heart and kidneys are used, 
and if desired, also the front legs. When 
nothing but hasenpfeffer is wanted the 
whole animal can be cut up into conve¬ 
nient pieces and. with the inner organs, 
laid in vinegar for a day or two. Some 
people like to use the blood which .some- 
tinies flows when the animal is dressed. 
This should also be mixed with vinegar 
and kept along with the meat. When 
ready to cook a good piece of butter or 
diced salt pork or bacon is put into the 
bottom of a pot and a little flour is blend¬ 
ed with it to a golden yellow. Then the 
vinegar in which the meat has lain, and 
boiling water, are added, enough so it will 
cover the meat. But do not yet put the 
meat in. Then is added a heaping saucer¬ 
ful of finely chopped onions, a few cloves, 
a few black pepper seeds, a bay leaf or 
two and the nece.ssary salt, (’ook, stir¬ 
ring until this gravy is smooth, then place 
the meat in and finish cooking with the 
pot covered. It must not be cooked until 
it falls to pieces and thus loses it.s flavor. 
Before it is ready to serve a teaspoonful 
or .so of sugar should be added and the 
blood, if wanted, and boiled through. Then 
it is .served. 
Hasenpfeffer of Fresh Rarbtt.— 
Either the whole rabbit cut up, or the 
usual parts only r.re cleaned and washed, 
then boiled for two or three minutes, re¬ 
moved and plunged into ice-cold water. 
Then put the pieces into pot with water, 
vinegar, salt, cloves, black pepper seeds 
and bay leaves, and let tlu'm cook slowly. 
Fry some diced bacon and onions golden 
yellow, add a tablespoonful or two of 
floin% stir smooth and after taking out 
the meat pour into the pot and let blend 
together. Strain all the gravy and pour 
back into the pot, put the meat back into 
the gravy, add a little caramel sauce and 
a teaspoonful of sugar, let it all boil to¬ 
gether and serve. It sounds almost like 
the same recipe as the first one, but it is 
really much more refined. 
THERESE SCHWENK. 
Old-Fashioned Bag Pudding 
I would like to tell '. N.-Y. readei'S 
about the bag inidding my mother used 
to make. She made it when she made 
boiled dinner—would have it ready to put 
ill with the boiling meat and leave it until 
all was done and ready to take out of the 
kettle. She had a knitted bag on pur¬ 
pose. with a string in the top to draw it 
up, but any cloth bag will answer the 
purpose. The pudding was round when 
turned out of the bag, and would cut in 
slices about four inches acro.ss. It should 
be light and .soft, just hard enough to hold 
together to slice nicely. Use buttermilk 
or sour milk, two cups will be enough for 
a small family, soda to sweeten and a 
pinch of salt. Add cornmeal to make a 
stiff batter, about the same as for steamed 
Indian loaf, and fruit if desired, half a 
cup of dried cherries or plums. Put into 
the bag and tie up, leaving room to rise. 
Serve with cream and sugar, or maple 
syrup. Sweet milk and baking powder 
would be just as good if buttermilk is not 
to be had. LUTHERA gilbert. 
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