Mrs. Roundell's Practical cookery book

whole of the breast with the bones left in it. Put these three breasts on a clish, pour over them a marinade consisting of two tablespoonfuls of salad oil, a teaspoonful of good vinegar, half an ounce of minced shallot, a teaspoonful of dried herbs, and the peel and juice of a Seville orange. Turn and baste them with this during the day. With the debris of the Teal — back, legs, wing-bones, and giblets well chopped up — proceed to make a strong broth by simmering them (covered with broth) very slowly, assisted by three ounces each of onion and carrot, a bouquet of herbs, a bunch of parsley, and seasoning, for at least an hour and half. Strain — there should be three-quarters of a pint of broth — thicken, skim, add half an ounce of glaze, a sherry glass of port, the juice of one lemon and the juice of one orange. Give this one boil and set it in the bain-marie. When required, take the breasts of the Teal from the marinade , wipe them carefully, then brush them over with butter and grill them. Divide each breast in halves by a clean cut across the centre, lay the six pieces on six croutes of fried bread. Hand the sauce, and Nepaul pepper, with an orange salad. Hares, as has already been said, are better for hanging just as they are for a week. Rabbits, on the contrary, should be cleaned and cooked whilst quite fresh. To skin a Hare, cut off all four legs at the first joint above the feet, then slit the skin all along the stomach as far back as the tail. Lift up the skin and pull the hind-legs out of it as if you were pulling a finger out of a tight glove. Leave the tail, and draw the skin (like taking off a stocking) over the back and the head, pull out the fore-legs as you did the hind-legs. The skin will generally break before you can pull the ears out of it ; in this case you must skin the ears, inside and out, afterwards. Take out the eyes. Takeout the inside of the Hare, being most careful not to break the intestines (or, as cooks call them, “ the pouch ”) nor the gall-bladder, which is attached to the liver. It is better to leave the kidneys in the Hare, taking out the heart, liver, and pouch. Wipe the inside of the Hare well with a dry cloth. Rabbits are skinned and cleaned in exactly the same way, but, unlike Hares, they must be thoroughly washed inside with salt and water. If Hares and Rabbits are stuffed, this must be done before they are trussed, and the opening of the stomach (which has been filled with the stuffing) must be neatly sewn up. Although we may not all feel like the young lady in Miss Broughton’s Nancy, who could not sit in the room with a roast Hare, there is something very repulsive in the hunted, terrified •expression of its face, with the lips tightly drawn back from the grinning teeth. In Germany the rable, or saddle, of the Hare is sold by itself, without the head, neck, shoulders, and thighs ; these are sold separately, and used for jugging or for soup. It is much the best way to follow this German plan here, always cooking the Hare in English fashion.