Margot’s grandfather used to go hunting. He lived in a small village close to Maastricht, and after work he would simply pick up his gun and go into the nearby woods. He resented all the Maastricht hunting parties, who made too much noise and were only there to show off their fancy hunting outfits. Even when he was eighty years old, he would still hunt rabbits and hares. In fact, it was more of a sport than actual hunting. For years, he tried to catch this one old hare. Sometimes the animal would practically run over his feet, but my grandfather was too late. Other times, the hare would look him straight in the eye and wait until the old man would point his gun at him. Always too late… They grew attached to each other and I’m convinced my grandfather could not have actually shot the hare if his life depended on it.
Below a Limburg recipe for cooking sour-and-sweet rabbit. Very tasty and easy to prepare!
‘Knien in ut zoer’
Ingredients:
1 rabbit sectioned
4.5 cups of vinegar
1.5 cup of water
chopped onions
4 cloves
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon of ‘stroop’ (molasses)
1 thick slice of ‘peperkoek’ (comparable to gingerbread)
1 teaspoon of sugar
10 peppercorns
1 tablespoon of butter
salt
pepper
Preparation:
Cover the pieces of rabbit thoroughly with salt and pepper. Place them in a large bowl and distribute the chopped onions among them. Cover with cloves and peppercorns. Mix water and vinegar en dissolve the sugar in that fluid. Pour this mixture into the bowl so that the meat is completely covered. Cover the bowl with a plate and leave the meat to marinate for at least 24 hours in a cold spot. Then take the rabbit meat out of the marinade and dry it well. Take the chopped onions from the marinade and drain them.
Take a large pan and brown the rabbit pieces on each side in the butter. Remove the meat from the pan and cook the drained chopped onions until golden brown. Add the marinade, the ‘stroop’ and the crushed ‘peperkoek’. Bring this mixture to a boil while you stir, add the meat and possibly some water until the meat is just covered. Simmer the meat for about 1.5 to 2 hours. The rabbit meat must be so tender that it ‘falls off the bones’.
Enjoy!