Roast Hare

Ingredients

• the hare
• plenty of dripping
• a little butter
• some flour
• half a glass of rich port wine
• a tiny piece of cinnamon
• six cloves
• two bay-leaves
• the juice of half a lemon
• a good spoonful of red-currant jelly

Method

1. 1

   Stuff the hare with the prepared stuffing, sew it up, and hang it before the fire.

2. 2

   Baste frequently with dripping.

3. 3

   Near the end, baste with butter and dredge with flour for color.

4. 4

   Serve with gravy and red-currant jelly.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Common-sense papers on cookery (1880) by A. G. Payne, page 70. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

the hare be too close to the fire in the early stage of roasting. But to begin at the begin- ning : We will suppose the hare caught and hung up, head downwards, in his fur jacket. Now the first 174 Common-sense Cooker j -. thing to be thought of is the length of time that a hare should be kept before it is cooked. This entirely depends upon the weather; a perfectly fresh hare should never be cooked unless the whole of it is intended for hare-soup, which is rarely the case save in small private houses. Some persons prefer the hare absolutely high ; the best course is a happy medium between being too high and too fresh, and cooks should bear in mind that what often appears very high and offensive when raw, becomes perfectly right when cooked. We will not dwell upon that not very agreeable but still necessary process of skinning the hare, but will at once commence to make the stuffing, which must be tied up inside it. Ordinary veal stuffing, as it is gene- rally called, is best for the purpose, and, as I think I have before pointed out, the most common fault is too much lemon. The following recipe will, I think, be found well adapted to improve, and not destroy or overcome, the flavour of the hare : — Take | lb. of beef suet, and chop it very finely, with 2 oz. of raw lean ham ; add a tea- spoonful of chopped fresh parsley and 2 tea-spoonfuls of dried mixed savoury herbs, or 1, if these savoury herbs are fresh. These herbs are sold ready mixed, in bottles, which is the simplest method, and are com- posed principally of marjoram, basil, thyme, &c. As How ro Cook Hark. *75 the herbs get drier, more must be used, but, as I have said, if quite fresh, 1 tea-spoonful ; if very dry, 2 ; the cook consequently must use her judgment for inter- mediate stages. Add to this, to continue the stuffing, \ of the rind of a lemon (this latter should be chopped very fine) ; arid a little cayenne pepper and salt, about 5 oz. of bread-crumbs, and 2 whole eggs. The whole quantity should be well pounded in a mortar. Some persons add the liver of the hare to the stuffing ; if the liver is quite fresh this may be done, but not unless ; and if the hare has been kept a proper time, the liver is very often the part that exhibits most the — what shall we call it? — ravages of time, and in such ease should on no account be used. This stuffing must be placed in the hare, taking care to wipe the inside first, and sewn up ; the hare should then be hung up before the fire, at a greater distance than meat would be ordinarily; plenty of dripping should be ready melted in the dripping-pan, and the cook should keep batting as often as possible ; this latter is the secret of having the hare moist, and without that hard dry coating outside which we mentioned. As for the time a hare takes to roast, it is almost impos- sible to say — a small one taking an hour, and a very large one nearly two. Much depends, also, on the fire, and the distance the hare is kept from it in the early stages. Bear in rnind, however, that underdone 176 Common-sense Cooker y. can be remedied, and overdone can’t. An inexpe- rienced cook can cut into the joint at the back, about where the hind -leg joins the body, and look ; or stick a little piece of firewood in after the knife, and judge by the colour whether it is done or not. On the average, an hour to an hour and a quarter will be ample. Near the finish, however, take away the dripping-pan and get a little butter; baste the hare with this to finish, putting the hare near the fire so as to froth the butter, and at the same time dredge the hare with some flour, so as to get it a nice brown- colour, and serve some good rich, hot gravy with it in a separate tureen. As hare is an awkward joint to carve, it will be found best not to pour gravy over it, for the sake of the tablecloth and the feelings of the carver. Red-currant jelly should always be handed round with hare, and the gravy will be much improved by a few cloves, a tiny piece of cinnamon being boiled in it and then strained off ; add also half a glass of rich port wine, and by rich I mean not a dry wine, but rather port-wine dregs. The last spoonful of port in the bottle should always be reserved for purposes of this kind. We will now discuss what is, to my mind, a far preferable method of cooking hare, and that is, jugged hare. For this purpose a stone jar with a wide mouth will be found to be better than an ordinary jug, How to Cook Hare. i77 which used to be used, and which gives its name to the dish. Have ready some good brown gravy, free from fat. Next cut up the hare into joints, each joint not being larger than would be considered the proper quantity for one help ; fry these joints in a little butter in a frying-pan, so as to turn them a nice brown with- out cooking them. Have the empty jar made hot by placing it in the oven, and have a cloth ready to tie over its mouth. Then as soon as the joints of hare are browned, throw them into the hot empty jar, pour a large glass of port wine in too, and tie the cloth quickly over the mouth of the jar, and let it stand for, say, a quarter of an hour or more, on the dresser. By this means the fumes of the wine will rise — the jar being hot — and will impregnate the meat of the hare in a way in which it would never do were it simply added to the gravy. After this has stood some time, untie the jar and add| the gravy, with a small piece of cinnamon, six cloves, two bay-leaves, and the juice of half a lemon. The gravy should be strongly impreg- nated with onion, and should be thickened with a little arrowroot rather than with brown thickening. The port will materially assist the colour ; a good spoonful of red-currant jelly may also be added to it and dis- solved in it, though in addition red-currant jelly will be handed round with it. Next place this jar up to its neck in a large saucepan of boiling water, only take L 178 Common-sense Cookery. care that the jar is well tied down, or much of the flavour will be lost ; allow this to remain in the boiling water for about an hour to an hour and a half, when it will be found to be sufficiently done, as jugged hare, like roast hare

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.