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Hare, Potted

Skin a hare and cut it into joints. Divide two pounds of bacon into square pieces of about two inches, and fry them in three ounces of butter. Put into the pan with them the pieces of hare, a small sprig of parsley, thyme, and sweet marjoram, two bay-leaves, a shallot, eight cloves, one blade of mace, a pinch of cayenne, a dozen peppercorns, and a little salt, if required. Fry them for a few minutes, then moisten with half a pint of good gravy. Cover the pan closely, and simmer gently for an hour and a half. Drain the pieces of hare from the liquid, pick the meat from the bones, remove the skin and sinew, mince it finely, and pound it in a mortar. Mix with it the fat and bacon, also pounded, and taste if the paste is sufficiently seasoned. Add the liquid, first boiling it down till it is reduced to three-quarters of a pint, and then passing it through a hair sieve. Put the mixture into jars, cover these with a coarse paste of flour and water, and bake in a moderate oven for an hour. Take them out, and, when cool, cover the jars with melted lard or butter and afterwards with bladder. If prepared in this way and kept in a cool place, the hare will keep good for several weeks. Probable cost, 6s. 6d., supposing the hare to cost 3s. 6d. Sufficient for ten or twelve persons.