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Yorkshire Hare Cake

Procure a hare, three-quarters of a pound of lean ham, four hard-boiled eggs, and a little gravy jelly. Pick the flesh from the bones in pieces as large as possible, divide them into neat collops, about a quarter of an inch thick, and put these aside in a covered dish till wanted. Put the bones and trimmings of the hare into a saucepan, with a calf's foot, a carrot, an onion stuck with two cloves, a bay-leaf, a few sticks of celery, a bunch of parsley, a sprig of thyme, and half a dozen peppercorns. Pour upon the ingredients as much stock or water as will cover them, and let them simmer gently till the gravy is strong and pleasantly flavoured. If the liquor is not so strong that it will jelly when cold, two ounces or more of gelatine may be dissolved in it. Free the jelly entirely from fat; spread a thin layer of it at the bottom of an earthen potting-pan, and fill the pan with alternate layers of the collops of hare, thin slices of ham, the hard-boiled eggs cut into slices, and the gravy jelly. Season each layer with a slight sprinkling of herbs and spices (see AROMATIC SEASONING OF HERBS AND SPICES). When the whole of the ingredients are used, cover the pan with a coarse paste of flour and water, put it in the oven in a dripping-tin, three-parts filled with boiling water, and keep the water boiling round it till the contents are done enough. Take the pan out of the oven and leave it in a cold place till the next day. Turn it out upon a dish, garnish with parsley, and serve as a luncheon, breakfast, or supper dish. Time to bake the cake, one hour and a quarter to one hour and three-quarters, according to the size of the hare. Probable cost of hare, 3s. 6d. to 6s. 6d. each. Sufficient for ten or twelve persons.