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Hare Pie, Raised
Make a crust with a pound and a half of flour, three-quarters of a pound of butter or lard, a pinch of salt, and half a pint of water. Put it aside for a little while. Cut a hare which has hung for a week or a fortnight into neat joints, and bone it, if practicable. When emptying it, be careful to preserve the blood. Mince half a pound of lean veal and half a pound of fat bacon very finely. Pound them in a mortar; add the blood in small quantities whilst pounding. Roll the paste to the thickness of half an inch in the proper shape. Butter the mould, press the pastry into it, fill it with alternate layers of forcemeat and hare, fill the cavities with forcemeat and jellied gravy, lay two or three slices of bacon on the top, put on the pastry cover, brush it over with beaten egg, ornament the sides and top, and make a hole in the centre. Bake for three hours. In order to ascertain whether the pie is sufficiently cooked, pierce it with a skewer. If it goes through the meat easily the pie may be taken out. Of course this can only be done when the meat is boned. No gravy should be put into the pie until after it is baked. This pie is to be eaten cold. Probable cost of hare, from 3s. 6d. to 6s. Sufficient for six or eight persons. (See RAISED PIES, TO FORM.)
A hot-water-crust raised pie of the kind meant to be carried to a cold table, cut in wedges and eaten over several days. The original assumes a hare bought in fur, a pie mould, and a cook who already knows how to raise a crust, so the notes below fill in what it leaves out.
- The hinge: gravy goes in after bakingThe recipe contradicts itself, telling you to fill cavities with jellied gravy and then stating that no gravy should go in until after baking. Follow the second instruction: bake the pie dry, then pour warm, well-reduced jellied stock through the central hole while the pie is still hot so it runs into the gaps, and let it set cold. Liquid added before baking steams the crust from the inside and can burst the walls.
- Oven temperatureNone is given. A raised pie of this size wants about 400F for the first 30 minutes to set and colour the crust, then 325-350F for the remaining time. Cover the top with foil or buttered paper once it is brown.
- The pasteA pound and a half of flour to twelve ounces of fat and half a pint of water, worked warm, is the standard raised-pie handling, and the cross-reference to RAISED PIES, TO FORM points to a hot-water crust: bring the fat and water to the boil, pour into the flour and salt, and work it while hot. The half pint is imperial, so 10 fl oz, a shade under 1 1/4 US cups. "Put it aside for a little while" means rest it warm, not chilled, or it will not mould.
- Hare and substitutesA whole hare runs 5-7 lb and is much darker and stronger than rabbit. Order it from a game dealer, skinned and jointed, and ask for it boned. Two farmed rabbits will fill the mould but give a pale, mild pie; adding a few ounces of minced venison or duck leg brings back some of the depth.
- Hanging"Hung for a week or a fortnight" describes a cold larder in a house with no refrigeration, and the practice tenderises and deepens the flavour of hare. Any hanging today should be done under refrigeration, and butchers generally supply hare already hung. Do not age meat at room temperature.
- The bloodHare blood, caught when the animal is paunched, both binds and darkens the forcemeat. It is rarely available at retail; dealers sometimes reserve it on request, otherwise pound in the hare's liver and a couple of tablespoons of port or reduced stock. Whatever binder you use is fully cooked in a three-hour bake.
- ForcemeatHalf a pound of lean veal to half a pound of fat bacon is a rich 50/50 mix; minced pork shoulder stands in for the veal without complaint. A food processor replaces the mortar, but pulse rather than puree, and keep everything cold so the fat does not smear.
- Mould and testingA hinged raised-pie mould or a deep 7-inch springform both work; butter and line the base. The skewer test only tells you anything if the meat is boned, as the recipe says. Reckon on close to three hours, and check that the centre reaches 165F.
- Yield and servingSix to eight portions, and it is meant to be eaten cold. Cool completely, then refrigerate at least 12 hours so the jelly sets firm before cutting. It keeps three or four days chilled and cuts better on the second day.
Raised pies were the standing furniture of the Victorian cold table: a self-supporting hot-water crust acted as both container and preserving case, which is why Cassell's cross-refers to a separate entry on how to form them rather than explaining the technique here. Hare belonged to the game economy rather than the butcher's shop, arriving in fur through dealers or as a gift from a shooting estate, and the instruction to save the blood when emptying the animal assumes a kitchen that received it whole. That blood, pounded into the veal-and-bacon forcemeat, is the same thickening and darkening trick used in jugged hare, the other standard English treatment of the animal. The price note of 3s. 6d. to 6s. for the hare places the dish among the more expensive entries in the book, and the direction that it is to be eaten cold marks it as a pie for a sideboard, a shooting lunch or a picnic hamper rather than a hot dinner course.</p>