Hasenpfeffer -- A Dish of Braised Rabbit

Yield: 4 servings

You'll need:

 4 lb rabbit
 1 1/2 cups dry red wine
 3/4 cup cider vinegar
 salt
 freshly ground black pepper
 1 bay leaf
 1/2 cup onions, chopped
 1 tablespoon mixed pickling spice
 1/2 cup flour
 4 tablespoons butter
 1 cup onions, thinly sliced
 2 tablespoons sugar
 1/2 cup sour cream

Cut rabbit in serving-sized pieces. Wash, scrape, and soak in salted cold water for 1 hour. Drain and dry.

In a glass or pottery bowl mix together the wine, vinegar, salt, pepper, bay leaf, chopped onions, and pickling spice. Add the rabbit and let marinate in the refrigerator for 3 days. Turn the pieces occasionally. Drain the rabbit, strain and reserve the marinade. Dry the rabbit with paper towels and roll in flour.

Melt butter in a Dutch oven or deep heavy skillet, brown the rabbit and sliced onions in it. Pour off fat and add sugar and 1-1/2 cups marinade. Cover and cook over low heat 1-1/2 hours or until rabbit is tender. Turn the pieces occasionally and add more marinade if needed. Taste for seasoning. Mix the sour cream into the gravy just before serving.

This recipe for hasenpfeffer was taken from Arielle's Recipe Archives, containing recipes that had been posted on the Usenet newsgroup rec.food.recipes. You can find the site at http://recipes.alastra.com. And you can find five other variations of hasenpfeffer there!

Used with the permission of the Arielle's owner. Permission was received less than twenty minutes after I first submitted this write-up -- ain't the Internet great!