The most popular Siegerland festive roast. Separate the head and forelegs from the skinned and gutted rabbit and further prepare it for roasting by salting. Cut into pieces and place in a ceramic pot form.
Pickling:
Heat ingredients for the pickle just to near boiling point. Cool slightly and pour over the cut rabbit. It will stay there for 2-3 days.
Remove rabbit pieces from the pickle and pat dry and brown on all sides in rendered bacon fat.
Pour pickle through a sieve.
Baste rabbit pieces frequently with the dressing and steam until done in about 1 1/2 hours.
Herbert Schmitt:
“If one afforded meat once, and this usually happened only on Sundays and holidays, then one preferred beef, especially since this yielded a good soup, which could be enriched with long grain rice, colored with saffron and improved with egg. Also “Schampe”, rumen or possibly reticulum of the beef cattle in delicious sauce, belonged to the typical Siegerland dishes. From the calf one ate gladly the “Gelueng” (liver, heart, Beuschel), after it had been rolled in flour and steamed. On weekdays there were occasionally salt herrings and on feast days often “Grinnchesbroare” (rabbit roast).” (Trutzhard Irle)
The Grinnchesbroare (stable rabbit roast) could only be surpassed by a hare roast in the flesh.
A father of a family from Obersetzen had decided to treat himself and his relatives to such a luxury for the celebration of the Easter holidays.