Modern cookery for private families by Eliza Acton
Chapter VIII., sew it up, truss and spit it firmly, baste it for ten
655 words | Chapter 66
minutes with lukewarm water mixed with a very little salt; throw this
away, and put into the pan a quart or more of new milk; keep it
constantly laded over the hare until it is nearly dried up, then add a
large lump of butter, flour the hare, and continue the basting steadily
until it is well browned; for unless this be done, and the roast be kept
at a proper distance from the fire, the outside will become so dry and
hard as to be quite uneatable. Serve the hare when done, with good brown
gravy (of which a little should be poured round it in the dish), and
with fine red currant jelly. This is an approved English method of
dressing it, but we would recommend in preference, that it should be
basted plentifully with butter from the beginning (the strict economist
may substitute clarified beef-dripping, or marrow, and finish with a
small quantity of butter only); and that the salt and water should be
altogether omitted. First-rate cooks merely wipe the hare inside and
out, and rub it with its own blood before it is laid to the fire; but
there is generally a rankness about it, especially after it has been
many days killed, which, we should say, renders the washing
indispensable, unless a coarse game-flavour be liked.
1-1/4 to 1-3/4 hour.
ROAST HARE.
(_Superior Receipt._)
A hare may be rendered far more plump in appearance, and infinitely
easier to carve, by taking out the bones of the back and thighs, or of
the former only: in removing this a very sharp knife should be used, and
much care will be required to avoid cutting through the skin just over
the spine, as it adheres closely to the bone. Nearly double the usual
quantity of forcemeat must be prepared: with this restore the legs to
their original shape, and fill the body, which should previously be
lined with delicate slices of the nicest bacon, of which the rind and
edges have been trimmed away. Sew up the hare, truss it as usual; lard
it or not, as is most convenient, keep it basted plentifully with butter
while roasting, and serve it with the customary sauce. We have found two
tablespoonsful of the finest currant jelly, melted in half a pint of
rich brown gravy, an acceptable accompaniment to hare, when the taste
has been in favour of a sweet sauce.
To remove the back-bone, clear from it first the flesh in the inside;
lay this back to the right and left from the centre of the bone to the
tips; then work the knife on the upper side quite to the spine, and when
the whole is detached except the skin which adheres to this, separate
the bone at the first joint from the neck-bone or ribs (we know not how
more correctly to describe it), and pass the knife with caution under
the skin down the middle of the back. The directions for boning the
thighs of a fowl will answer equally for those of a hare, and we
therefore refer the reader to them.
STEWED HARE.
Wash and soak the hare thoroughly, wipe it very dry, cut it down into
joints dividing the largest, flour and brown it slightly in butter with
some bits of lean ham, pour to them by degrees a pint and a half of
gravy, and stew the hare _very gently_ from an hour and a half to two
hours: when it is about one third done add the very thin rind of half a
large lemon, and ten minutes before it is served stir to it a large
dessertspoonful of rice-flour, smoothly mixed with two tablespoonsful of
good mushroom catsup, a quarter of a teaspoonful or more of mace, and
something less of cayenne. This is an excellent plain receipt for
stewing a hare; but the dish may be enriched with forcemeat (No. 1,
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