Roof tenderloin. The taste is middle between a rabbit and a hare. Preferably stew for hours in a nice broth so that the pieces of meat come off the bones and become nice and tender. Add some potatoes or rice and your meal is ready to be eaten. And the best thing is, the most important ingredient is ample and also free available. You can find them on almost every street corner or on a roof: cats. Especially in Helmond and the surrounding area they were known as a true delicacy.
When Poekie or Tiger has appeared exactly on the menu is unclear. But it is known that the animal regularly disappears into the pot in the Middle Ages, often out of bitter necessity. At that time, a city is undoubtedly the safest place to live in. It is often equipped with sturdy walls so that not every robber gang or enemy army can just march inside to make the residents a cup smaller and run away with their possessions. To the invention of the gunpowder, which in the thick walls no time Reduces to debris, it can sometimes take months or years before the attackers manage to come in.
The besiegers use their most important weapon: time. The city is completely surrounded so that no one can go in or out anymore. And then it’s a matter of waiting. Wait until the stocks slowly run out and the defenders give up because of their ever louder grunting stomachs. But before that moment is there, there is probably no more animal within the city walls.
Steaming on board
And you have to take that very literally. Not only the chickens, pigs, goats, sheep, horses and cows are slaughtered and fed up. After that it is the turn of dogs, rats and cats, better known as roof hare. No piece of meat was wasted. Because yes, in harsh times you grab everything to survive. And anyway in people who lived in poverty, the roof tenderloin regularly adorned the menu. And their coats were used to make jackets out of them.
Recipe roof tenderloin
Supplies:
1 cat, 1 teaspoon of pepper, 1 teaspoon of salt, 2 tablespoons butter, 1 generous tablespoon of flour, 500 ml of broth, 50 ml of wine vinegar, 1 chopped onion, 1 piece of mace, 1 bay leaf, 2 cloves and salt and pepper to taste.
Preparation:
Cut the cat to pieces and rub in with the pepper and salt.
Melt the butter in a frying pan and fry the cat all around until they have a nice brown color. Remove the cat from the pan. Put the flour in the pan and stir well into the remaining fat. Bake for about 5 minutes until the flour is cooked. Then add the broth dash and stir with a whisk into a smooth sauce.
Add vinegar, onion, mace, bay leaf, cloves and the pieces of cat to the sauce. Stir and let the cat simmer in the sauce in approximately 1 to 1.5 hours.
Remove the mace, bay leaf and cloves from the sauce and serve the stew warm with some potatoes or rice for example.
(Thanks to our colleagues from Omroep Gelderland for the recipe. Incidentally, the cat can be better replaced by rabbit in 2025)
That was not limited to hundreds of years ago, because poverty is of all times. Especially in Helmond, people had little to do not so long ago. And the roof tenderloin just came on the table. It has also delivered the little flattering nickname the Helmond cat messages. But also in other places in Brabant, the animal regularly appeared steaming on the board. Cat slappen or bunning was also a kind of folk entertainment during fairs and fairs. A ton with a cat was hung in it. People threw a club at the barrel, which started to swing and finally he broke. The one who hit the barrel through which the cat fled had won.
Keep an eye on your dogs and cats!
During the Second World War there was a shortage of just about everything at the end of the war. And even the Protection of Animals put advertisements in newspapers to warn people to keep an eye on their dogs and cats. Anyone who bought a piece of meat on the black market also run the risk that it was not a rabbit or hare that he was pressed in exchange for a God’s asset.
The name Dakhaas is also a nickname for roofers. And in the dialect of the city of Utrecht it is even elevated to a true swear word: retarded Dakhoas.
Past
Aflied past is a weekly section about fun, remarkable or funny facts from the rich Brabant past. If you have a tip, mail to: [email protected]