Cookery for every household

Wash any parts of the game that require it, and break it down into small pieces. Wipe the beef and shred it down finely as for beef-tea, and cut the ham in small pieces. Melt the butter in a saucepan and put in the game, ham, and the vegetables also cut small. Fry all these a nice brown colour and then add the water gradually and the shredded beef. Add also the herbs and seasoning and simmer all gently from 3 to 4 hours. If the liquid reduces too much, more water must be added. When ready, strain through a fine sieve and remove all grease from the top. Remove some of the meat from the bones, pound it in a mortar with a little of the stock and rub it through a sieve. Return the liquid to the saucepan and add to it the meat puree. Break the arrowroot with some of the stock, add it also and stir over the fire until boiling. Simmer a few minutes longer, season to taste and add the wine at the last. The soup may be tammied, if it is wished very smooth. Notes. — The beef may be omitted from the above ingredients if stock can be used for making the soup. Instead of the sieved puree, small tender pieces of cooked game may be served in the soup as a garnish and crushed tapioca used for thickening instead of the arrowroot. Forcemeat balls may also be used as a garnish. Time to cook, 4 hours. Cost uncertain. Quantity, pints. 141. Hare Soup (Potage au Lievre) 1 small hare. J lb. lean ham. 3 qts. second stock. 2 oz. good dripping or butter. 2 onions. 2 sticks of celery. 2 small carrots. 1 small turnip. A bunch of herbs. 1J oz. flour. 1 doz. peppercorns. 1 blade of mace. The rind of £ lemon. 1 table-sp. red-currant jelly. 1 glass port. Seasoning. Some forcemeat balls. Skin and paunch the hare, saving the liver and as much of the blood as possible. Then wash the hare, dry it and cut it in small pieces. (If large, some of the best joints may be used for jugged hare or the back may be roasted (see Recipe 1209). Melt the dripping or butter in a saucepan, put in the ham cut in dice, the onions thinly sliced, and the joints of hare. Turn these over and over until well browned on all sides. Next add the other vegetables cut in pieces, the bunch of herbs, lemon rind, spices, and stock. Mix well and simmer gently for 4 or 5 hours, skimming when necessary. Then strain through a hair sieve into a basin and stand until cold. Remove the fat carefully from the top of the stock, put some of the meat from the hare into a mortar, pound it well with a little of the stock and rub it through a wire sieve. Return the soup to a clean saucepan with the meat puree and reheat over the fire. Brown the flour and mix it to a smooth paste with a little stock, or some ketchup and Worcester sauce. Add this paste to the soup and stir over the fire until boiling. Season to taste and add the wine, red-currant jelly, and blood just before serving. The soup must not boil after the blood is added or it will curdle. Put the forcemeat balls in the soup tureen and pour the hot soup over them. Forcemeat Balls for Hare Soup. — Make according to directions given in Recipe 1228, adding to the ingredients the liver of the hare, cooked and finely chopped. Note. — If liked, some of the meat from the hare may be cut in dice and served in the soup ; but this should be removed from the soup before it is too much cooked.