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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.)