From The Cookbook: Old Fashioned Hasenpfeffer with Spaetzles

For those who enjoy German table fare, it's hard to get enough. When picking your next Deutschland recipe add some wild-game to the mix. Hasenpfeffer with spaetzles is an old-fashioned recipe. Hasenpfeffer is a tradition stew utilizing marinated rabbit and spaetzles are a type of egg noodle. This combination is sure to satiate you.

Old Fashioned Hasenpfeffer with Spaetzles

The following recipe is taken directly from the NRA Members' Wild Game Cookbook, Second Edition. To buy your own copy of the cookbook, visit the NRA Program Materials Center.

Ingredients

Hasenpfeffer:
•    1 small rabbit (2 1/2 pounds), cut into serving pieces
•    1/2 cup vinegar
•    2 cups water
•    2 teaspoons salt
•    1/4 teaspoon pepper
•    1/2 cup sugar
•    2 tablespoons whole pickling spice wrapped and tied in a cheese-cloth
•    1 medium onion, sliced
•    1/2 cup flour
•    4 tablespoons cooking oil
•    1/2 pint sour cream

Spaetzles:
•    2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
•    2 teaspoons salt
•    1 egg slightly beaten
•    1 cup water
•    boiling salted water

Combine vinegar, water, salt, pepper, sugar, pickling spice and sliced onion in a bowl. Stir sugar until dissolved. Add pieces of rabbit and cover. Let stand in refrigerator six to ten hours, turning and marinating rabbit occasionally so meat will absorb flavors.

Remove rabbit, save liquid, onions and pickling mixture. Fill dutch oven with two inches water. Place rabbit in water and bring to a slow boil. Boil for five minutes in a rapid boil, pour off water and rinse rabbit well. Repeat this procedure. Put rabbit back into dutch oven with marinating mixture of vinegar, water, pickling spice and onions that you have saved from the marinating process and bring rabbit back to a gentle boil.

Remove rabbit, save liquid and onions, but discard pickling mixture. Place four tablespoons cooking oil in a fry pan on medium heat. Roll rabbit in flour until well coated, shake off excess flour and brown evenly.

Place rabbit in a casserole dish with pickling liquid and onions saved from the last boiling. Stir in sour cream. Cover and place in oven. Bake at 375 degrees for two and a half hours.

To make spaetzles, combine flour, salt, egg and water. Beat until smooth. Heat teaspoon in boiling water (will help the dough come off the spoon easier), drop by one half teaspoon into salted boiling water. Cook 10 minutes. Rinse with cool water and drain. Add to Hasenpfeffer 30 minutes before serving.

Originally Submitted By:
Karen C. KieferHiram, Ohio