No. 2077

Young Hare a la Castiglione—Sauted

Levraut Saute a la Castiglione

Cut a young hare into twelve parts; two shoulder pieces, four from the legs and six from the back and ribs, put these in a sautéing pan and fry on a good fire with plenty of fresh butter; throw over some chopped parsley and mushrooms, two blanched and very finely chopped shallots, a little cooked ham either cut very small or in eighth of an inch squares, salt, pepper, and nutmeg; moisten with a pint of broth (No. 194a) adding a bunch of parsley garnished with thyme, bay leaf, a little garlic, and a clove; cook on a slow fire, then finish in a slack oven in a hermetically closed saucepan, allowing it to be in for twenty to thirty minutes; remoisten as fast as the liquid becomes reduced, adding only a very little at the time so that when done there remains very little of the stock, and that has fallen to a glaze without adhering to the pan. After the hare is done, pour in two gills of espagnole sauce (No. 414), and half a gill of Madeira at the same time, suppressing the parsley, and finish with the juice of a lemon. Garnish around with heart-shaped croutons fried in butter.

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For the Modern Kitchen

A classic brown saute of young hare, finished in the oven under a tight lid. Ranhofer assumes you have stock and espagnole standing ready; the method itself is straightforward once the cross-references are resolved.

The hinge: moisten a little at a timeThe point of the repeated small additions is that the liquid should reduce to a glaze by the time the meat is done, not be poured off at the end. Add a few tablespoons of stock whenever the pan looks dry, and stop adding once the meat is tender so the last of it can tighten around the pieces.
Gills and pintsA gill is half a cup, so two gills of espagnole is one cup and half a gill of Madeira is a quarter cup. The pint of broth is two cups; the recipe uses it as the initial moistening, then calls for further small additions as the liquid reduces.
Slack ovenA slack oven is a cool one, usually reckoned at somewhere around 275-300F. The pan goes in only to finish gently after the meat has already coloured and simmered on the stove.
"Hermetically closed"A tight-fitting lid; period kitchens often sealed the rim with a rope of flour-and-water paste, though Ranhofer does not say so here. A sheet of foil crimped under the lid does the same job of keeping the small amount of liquid in the pan.
LevrautA leveret, a hare under a year old, which is why twenty to thirty minutes suffices. An older hare or a wild-shot animal will need an hour or more of gentle braising; farmed rabbit, the usual substitute, is milder and much leaner and can be dry at the same timing.
The sauce cross-referencesNo. 194a is one of Ranhofer's basic broths and No. 414 is espagnole, the brown mother sauce. A good unsalted demi-glace or a well-reduced brown stock thickened lightly stands in for the espagnole.
SaltBetween the ham, the broth and the reduced espagnole, this seasons itself as it goes. Salt lightly at the frying stage and correct only after the lemon juice goes in.
YieldOne young hare in twelve pieces will serve about four. The recipe says only that the heart-shaped croutons are fried in butter; fry them just before serving so they stay crisp.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty years' cooking at Delmonico's in New York, and its rabbit and hare chapter is essentially the French repertoire transplanted whole. Garnishes and preparations a la Castiglione appear across nineteenth-century French cookery and are generally traced to the Italian place-name that gave Napoleon's marshal Augereau his ducal title, though the naming of such dishes was loose and largely commemorative rather than descriptive of any fixed set of ingredients. What is consistent here is the structure: a saute finished in its own reduced moistening, lifted with espagnole, Madeira and lemon, and ringed with heart-shaped fried croutons, a plating convention so standard in Ranhofer's day that he never bothers to explain it. Hare itself was a market item in America then in a way it no longer is, sold wild and seasonal alongside game birds, and the specification of a levraut rather than a full-grown animal is a buying instruction as much as a cooking one.