Cassell's dictionary of cookery

it is a smooth paste. If there is a pound of meat, mix with it a salt-spoonful of salt, a salt-spoonful of pepper, half a salt-spoonful of mustard, a salt-spoonful of sugar, and two cloves, pounded; also a quarter of a pint of cold gravy and four ounces of clarified butter. When the ingredients are thoroughly blended, put the meat into a dish, make it smooth and even, and pour over it two ounces of melted butter. Keep it in a cool place until required for use. Time, about one hour to prepare. Probable cost, 6d., e.xclusive of the cold meat. Sufficient for five or six persons. Hare Ragout. — Divide the hare into neat joints. Put the best parts — namely, the back, shoulders, and legs — into a deep dish ; pour over as much vinegar as will barely cover them, and put with them one bay-leaf, a large onion, with six cloves stuck in it, half a dozen peppercorns, and half a dozen shallots. Let them remain in the marinade for twenty-four hours. Put two ounces of butter, three sliced onions, and three tea-spoonfuls of flour into a stewpan. Set the pan upon a moderate fire, and stir well with a wooden spoon till the onions are brightly browned ; add gradually a quart of water, make the mixture quite smooth, then put with it a bunch of herbs, four allspice, a sliced carrot, the inferior pieces of hare, such as the head, neck, liver, heart, and ribs, and a quarter of a pound of bacon, cut into slices. Simmer gently for an hour. Strain the gravy, and leave it until the following day, when the fat can be removed entire. Drain the hare from the vinegar and stew it in the vinegar until tender. Add salt and pepper, if required. Serve with forcemeat balls round the dish. A glass of port is always an improvement to hare, but this may be added or not. Time, three-quarters of an hour to stew the hare. Probable cost, 3s. 6d. to 6s. Sufficient for six or eight persons. 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 by the forelegs 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 in three or four waters, the last time in lukewarm water. 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 HAR ( 305 ) HAR