Slow Cooker Hasenpfeffer (Rabbit Stew)
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My grandfather was a farmer and also an avid rabbit hunter. He hunted other game throughout his life, but hunting rabbit was hands down his favorite thing to do. He would walk the fence rows at the farm and kick up rabbits to bring home for my grandmother to cook. He and his brother would also take occasional trips to go hunt rabbit in other states. Rabbit was part of the regular supper rotation in their house. Grandmother Margaret came from a very strong German heritage and one dish she would regularly cook with the rabbit was hasenpfeffer. If you’re not familiar, hasenpfeffer is a German rabbit stew.
The word hasenpfeffer translates to “peppered hare”. Black pepper is of course one of the main seasonings for this dish, but “peppered” also refers to general seasonings and spices. Hasenpfeffer is definitely an old world recipe. It’s full of bold flavors and is an excellent choice if you’re wanting a traditional German meal. I have my grandmother’s original recipe for hasenpfeffer, but at that time, they didn’t have access to the same spices and ingredients that we do today. Her recipe and frugal use of the farm’s wild rabbit is what inspired me to develop this recipe– still rooted in strong German tradition, yet bursting with flavor.
Serving Size: 6 Servings
Time to Make: Marinate 12-48 hours, 20 minutes prep, 6-8 hours in a slow cooker.
Also Works With: Squirrel, hare, or muskrat
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Slow Cooker Hasenpfeffer
6
servings30
minutes8
hoursKeep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
1 rabbit, cut into 5 pieces: front legs, back legs and saddle.
- Marinade
1.5 cups dry red wine
1 cup red wine vinegar
1 large onion, diced
4 bay leaves
1 Tbsp peppercorns, crushed
2 tsp marjoram
2 tsp juniper berries, crushed
1 tsp allspice, ground
1 tsp sea salt
- Hasenpfeffer
3 slices fried bacon, chopped
2 medium carrots, diced
2 turnips, diced
2 ribs of celery, diced
1 cup vegetable or chicken broth
2 sprigs rosemary
1 tsp crushed black peppercorns
2 Tbsp whiskey
2 Tbsp plain or all-purpose flour
Preparation
- Place the parted out rabbit in a large bowl or container. Combine together all marinade ingredients and pour over the rabbit. Cover the container and place the rabbit in the refrigerator for 12-48 hours. Note: The longer you can allow it to marinade will help the rabbit to tenderize and the overall dish to be more flavorful.
- When the rabbit is done marinating, fry bacon in a cast iron or skillet. Remove bacon but keep the bacon grease in the pan for frying the rabbit.
- Remove the rabbit from the liquid. Strain the liquid, reserving 2 cups of marinade. In the pan with the bacon grease, over medium high heat, brown the rabbit pieces on all sides until a light golden brown.
- Place browned rabbit in the crock pot. Pour in the 2 cups of reserved marinade along with carrot, turnip, celery, broth, rosemary, black pepper and whiskey. Let cook on low for 6-8 hours until the meat falls off the bones. Remove bones from the crockpot.
- When almost ready to serve, remove approximately ⅓ cup of liquid from the crockpot. In a small mixing bowl containing the flour, slowly whisk the liquid in to make a slurry. Pour the slurry back into the crockpot and stir to incorporate. Let cook for an additional 15-20 minutes.
- Serve hot over mashed potatoes.
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