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Hare, Roast
An old hare may be jugged or stewed, but should never be roasted. Choose one, therefore, not more than three-quarters grown. The longer it can be kept good the better it will be. It is best not to be opened for three or four days, and the vent and mouth may be tied up if it is wished to keep it as long as possible. As soon as it is paunched the liver and heart should be taken out and scalded, the inside wiped dry every day, and dusted with pepper, and the hare hung head downwards in a cool dry place. As soon as it begins to grow limp it should be cooked. If there is any suspicion that it has been kept too long, let it lie in vinegar and water for an hour before it is put to the fire. Skin and wash the hare inside, wipe it outside with a damp cloth, and dry it. Pierce the skin of the neck, and any parts where the blood has settled, with the point of a sharp knife, and hold it in lukewarm water to draw the blood out. Fill it with good forcemeat, sew it up, and truss it firmly. Put it some distance from the fire at first, and when it is hot throughout place it nearer. It must be basted constantly, or it will be dry and hard. The usual plan is to baste it with salt and water for the first quarter of an hour, then to pour this away, and use a pint and a half of milk, and, when this is dried up, finish with a little butter. It is a better plan, however, to use good beef dripping until the last few minutes. When the hare is nearly done enough, flour it, and baste it with butter till it is nicely browned. The time required for roasting will depend upon its age and size. A moderate-sized hare will take from an hour and a quarter to an hour and three-quarters; a large one two hours. Take the hare up, remove the string and skewers, and send a little good brown gravy to table with it, and the rest in a tureen. Red currant jelly should always accompany roast hare. Probable cost, 3s. 6d. to 6s. Sufficient for six or eight persons.
A late-Victorian roast built around an open fire and a game larder, both of which have to be translated. The recipe assumes you have bought the hare in its skin, undrawn, and will hang it yourself; most cooks today will start from a dressed hare from a game dealer.
- Skip the hanging instructionsThe direction to leave the hare unopened for three or four days, tie the vent and mouth, and hang it until it "begins to grow limp" belongs to a cold stone larder in winter. Buy the hare already hung and drawn by a dealer, who can control temperature; do not attempt ambient hanging of an undrawn carcass in a modern house.
- Ignore the vinegar rescueSteeping a hare in vinegar and water because it may have been kept too long is a nineteenth-century deodorising trick, not a safety measure. Bacterial toxins are not removed by acid or by roasting; if game smells sour or is tacky, discard it.
- Choose the animal"Not more than three-quarters grown" means a young hare; the traditional tests are ears that tear easily and small, sharp claws. An adult hare has muscle and connective tissue that only a long braise will soften, which is why the book sends it to the jug.
- Oven, not fire"Some distance from the fire at first, then nearer" is the spit-roast equivalent of starting gently and finishing hot. In an oven, roast at 325-350F for the bulk of the time and raise to 425F for the last ten minutes to brown the floured surface.
- Basting and fatHare is exceptionally lean and will dry out; the constant basting is not optional. The milk baste gives a pale, tender skin, but the author's own preference for beef dripping is sounder. Barding the saddle and hind legs with fat bacon and covering with foil for the first hour does the same job with less attendance.
- ForcemeatThe standard Victorian forcemeat here is breadcrumbs, shredded suet, chopped bacon or ham, lemon zest, parsley, thyme, and egg to bind, often with the scalded liver and heart chopped in. Stuff loosely; a tightly packed cavity slows the heat and pushes the roasting time past the point where the legs stay moist.
- DonenessBecause the bird-like carcass is stuffed, cook it through rather than pink: 165F in the thickest part of the thigh and in the centre of the forcemeat. The stated times, 1 1/4 to 1 3/4 hours for a moderate hare and two hours for a large one, are broadly right for a modern oven but should be checked with a thermometer.
- Accompaniments and costBrown gravy at table and red currant jelly are fixed by convention; the jelly's acidity and sweetness do work comparable to the more elaborate poivrade sauces of French cookery. The "3s. 6d. to 6s." is a late nineteenth-century price for the hare, of no use now except as a rough indication of what game then cost. Serves six to eight.
Hare was widely eaten game in Britain long before it became a specialist purchase, and under the game laws it was hedged about with rules on who could take and sell it. The division of the animal into two fates is the traditional one: a young hare roasted whole with forcemeat, an old one jugged, that is, stewed slowly in a covered jar set in a pan of water, often thickened at the end with its own blood. The elaborate keeping instructions here reflect a kitchen that judged game by ripeness as much as by freshness; hanging was held to develop the flavour and tenderise the flesh. Red currant jelly has been a standing companion to roast hare and venison in English cookery since at least the eighteenth century.