Hazenpeper

Hazenpeper is made of two words: haas (English: hare) and peper (English: pepper). Peper refers to peperkoek, which is a spiced cake with the following ingredients: rye, cloves, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Side note: peperkoek is nowadays called ontbijtkoek.

But peperkoek is just a minor ingredient, hazenpeper is a hunter’s stew made from hare, vegetables and red wine.

First you have the marinate the hare for 24 to 48 hours. Traditionally hazenpeper is made of the front legs (voorlopers) of the hare.

The marinate
Dice: onion, carrot, celery; add crushed garlic, cloves, freshly ground black pepper, juniper berries, bay leaf, fresh thyme, fresh tarragon, fresh chervil, 2 tables spoons of apple vinegar and add enough red wine to cover the meat. Marinate for at least 24 hours.

The next day
Separate the meat from the marinate and run the marinate through a sieve. Keep the wine separate from the vegetables and herbs. Dry the meat with kitchen paper and rub the meat with salt and black pepper.

Fry the meat in hot butter until brown. Take the meat out of the frying pan and add cubed streaky bacon. Fry until crispy. Add the vegetables and fry for a couple of minutes. Add some brandy/cognac, give it a quick stir and add the marinate to the pan and some stock (fond) made of game. Put the fried meat back into the pan and simmer until the meat falls off the bone. Take the meat out and pluck the meat from the bones.

Puree or mash the remaining sauce, but not too fine. Just don’t use an electric blender. Add two slices of peperkoek, a tablespoon of jam and put the meat back in the pan without the bones. If you have any, at this point you would add some hare’s blood and liver to bind the sauce. In a separate pan fry silverskin onions and mushrooms in butter, add these in last. If you don’t use blood you can dust some flower over the mushrooms and butter to bind the sauce. If you can’t get silverskin onion, you can use the pickled version (wash some of the sour taste off). Simmer for another half hour until the peperkoek has dissolved. Let it rest for another 24 hours before serving.