German Meatloaf “Falscher Hase” (Fake Rabbit)

Meatloaves are kind of international, I guess, but of course, this German Meatloaf has to have a weird name: Falscher Hase – Fake Rabbit!

I honestly don’t know why it’s called that. I am assuming that the name comes from the shape since it kind of looks a little like a rabbit roast. But it is made with half beef and half pork meat.

Video “German Meatloaf”

The Other German Meatloaf

I mention it in the video but want to also put it down in writing: This is not the only German meatloaf. There are other recipes, too, and since Americans often refer to the Bavarian “Liver Cheese” (Leberkäse) as a German meatloaf, I want to point you to the direction of that recipe: Bavarian Liver Cheese Recipe.

Variations

Traditionally, we are using a mix of 50% ground pork and 50% ground beef but that doesn’t mean you can’t make it with just ground beef. It might make things a lot easier for you to know that. However, you can ask your butcher to make you that mix or simply get yourself a meat grinder. I found myself using a meat grinder more often than I ever expected, i.e. for making sausages.

Then, you can also change the spices in the recipe or add spices like paprika. The parsley can be switched with other herbs like chives or Italian herbs.

To change things up even more, replace the boiled eggs with some thick chunks of Feta and use Italian herbs and you have a Greek variation of our recipe – I love that very much!

The bacon in the recipe is optional. If you prefer not to use it, it’s totally fine.

Baking Pan or Baking Sheet?

You can make the meatloaf in a bread pan / loaf pan or as I did it in the video on a baking sheet. You will not be able to make the gravy the way I make it in this recipe if you decide to make it in a bread pan.

If you choose to wrap your meatloaf in bacon but also use a loaf pan, you would have to place the bacon in the bread pan, first. This will leave the seam on top and might not look as good as the baking sheet version. On that note: My daughter declared that my meat loaf looks like a giant bacon worm. Teens can be so funny!

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German Meatloaf “Fake Rabbit” – Falscher Hase

Barbara

inspired by a recipe from EDEKA

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 minute min

Course Dinner, Lunch (or Dinner), Main Course, Meat Dish

Cuisine German

Servings 6 people

Ingredients

 

MetricUS Customary

 

1x2x3x

For the Meatloaf

• 600 g ground Meat: 300g ground Pork + 300g ground Beef or 600g ground beef
• 1½ Dinner Rolls
• 1 Onion diced
• 2 Eggs for the loaf
• 5 Eggs for boiling
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 bunch Parsley
• 1 tbsp Dijon Mustard
• some Pepper
• some Salt
• 14 slices Bacon

For the Gravy

• 1 Onion
• 50 g Carrots diced
• 30 g Root Celery diced
• 30 g Leek cut in rings
• 350 ml Chicken Broth
• 1-2 tsp Corn Starch or Potato Starch
• some Pepper
• some Salt

Instructions

 

• Soak the dinner rolls in warm water.
• Preheat the oven to 340°F / 170°C, don't use the convection function, just top and bottom heat.
• In a pot, bring water to a boil and carefully add the 5 eggs. Boil for 7 minutes, then take out, let cool, and remove shell.
• In a large bowl, put the ground meat, add the 2 eggs, mustard, onion, mustard, salt and pepper.
• Chop the parsley and press the garlic and also add to the bowl.
• Squeeze the water from the soaked rolls and place them into the bowl.
• Mix everything very well to a smooth mass.
• Place some parchment paper on a baking sheet, then put bacon slices overlapping onto the paper, creating a large rectangle.
• Place the meat on top of the bacon, shape it to a large rectangle but leave a large rim of bacon underneath.
• Make an indention in the center of the meat. Place the boiled eggs next to each other into the indention.
• Grab one side of the parchment paper and flip half of the meat over the eggs. Repeat from the other side of the baking sheet, shaping and wrapping the meatloaf with bacon.
• Put the vegetables for the gravy left and right onto the baking sheet.
• Put in the oven for one hour.
• After the first 10 minutes, add some of the chicken broth to the meatloaf, pouring it onto the vegetables.

Making the Gravy

• After one hour, remove the meatloaf from the oven. Collect the vegetables from the baking sheet and place them into a sauce pan.
• Add the remaining broth and also 200 ml of water to the sauce pan and bring everything to a boil. Let boil for several minutes.
• Remove almost all vegetables from the sauce and with an immersion blender, blend the remaining vegetables into the gravy.
• Spice with salt and pepper if needed.
• Mix the starch with a little cold water, add some of it to the gravy and boil for a minute. If more thickening is needed, add some more of the starch water.
• Serve the meatloaf with the gravy, carrots and mashed potatoes.

Keyword meat

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