Pastizzi and rabbit flavour the traditional Maltese menu, but there was a time when the locals were so fond of rabbit meat that hunting it without permission cost them five years of rowing on galleys.

Detail from Antonio Lafreri, Melita insula, quam hodiae Maltam uocant, Rome 1551, Heritage Malta MUŻA Collection.

Rabbit recipes feature in practically all Maltese cookery books, including the 1894 Ctieb tal Cchina, considered by many as the first printed recipe book in Maltese.

However, rabbit meat was popular much earlier, with historic archives showing that whether hunted or raised by the locals, its meat stocked the islands for centuries. But was it cooked in the same manner as today: fried in olive oil, with some garlic, bay leaves and white wine or tomato sauce?

Next week, people can try a 17th and 18th century take on pastizzi and rabbit, known as pastizzo di carne di coniglio at the Inquisitor’s Palace in Vittoriosa, which hosts Malta’s best documented early modern kitchen. Heritage Malta is organising a historic cookalong session with food researcher Noel Buttigieg and chef Josef Baldacchino on Tuesday at 7.30pm.

The idea for the event was inspired by a 1603 trial document reference in which Claretta Sguro was summoned in front of the Inquisitor for consuming a pastizzo con carne di coniglio on giorni magri, that is, days in which it was prohibited to eat any animal meat or by-product. The information found in this reference was combined with a recipe in a 1741 recipe book found at the National Library.

A calendar year was back then divided between giorni grassi – when people could eat meat, cheese and eggs – and giorni magri, when this was prohibited. This was not limited to Lent: every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and the vigil of the major Catholic festivities were considered giorni magri.

But rabbit was not banned only on such days. The Palace’s curator, Kenneth Cassar, told the Times of Malta, that in an attempt to preserve their “noble hobby” and give rabbits some breathing space to breed, various Grand Masters of the Order of St John issued bans to limit rabbit hunting.

Various Grand Masters of the Order of St John issued bans to limit rabbit hunting

Periodic bans were issued in 1534, 1711, 1741 and 1775, inflicting punishments as harsh as galley-rowing for five years on anyone caught hunting rabbit without permission.

The 1775 prohibition on rabbit hunting even led to an uprising of priests, clerics and laymen led by Don Gaetano Mannarino. The ruling authorities got the message and in 1776 Grand Master Ximenes granted the concession to hunt rabbit again.

Things seem to have got a bit out of hand in the 19th century, when the British Governor for Malta Frederick Ponsomby is recorded to have hunted 11,000 rabbits in seven years, and hunting habits depleted the population of wild rabbits.

Consequently, the domestic rearing of rabbits became increasingly popular to the extent that in 1930 it was described as a main occupation for Maltese by the Daily Malta Chronicle, he noted.

The ingredients for the pastizzo di carne di coniglio, which people can try on Tuesday at the Inquisitor’s Palace in Vittoriosa.

Proceeds from this event will help Heritage Malta refurnish the kitchens back how they used to be in busy days.

The kitchens’ complex inventories, drawn up in these two centuries are proof that the place was fully equipped to cater for the Inquisitor’s refined tastes, his desire to impress important guests and to feed his retinue and inmates.

Much like today’s Papal Nuncio, the Inquisitor was the representative, or apostolic delegate, of the Pope in Malta. His other role was that of supreme judge of the Holy Inquisition.

More information and details on www.heritagemalta.org or 2166 3731.

A rabbit in a cow

Baqra means cow in Maltese, but it is also the name for an oddly shaped kitchen utensil that was used, among others, to prepare rabbit stew.

This was an earthenware pot in the shape of a barrel with a knob on one side and a square opening, standing on four legs for stability.

Its shape, ideal to hold a rabbit, resembles that of a cow, thus the name.

The baqra was eventually replaced by the pagna, an earthenware pan in use until it was recently, in turn, replaced by the more customary saucepans we are familiar with.