Dish in a warm timbale, and surround with heart-shaped [croûtons] fried in butter at the last moment.
Cold Preparations of Hare
[1822—LIÈVRE EN DAUBE]
Take a fresh hare, and bone it from the back without emptying it, that the skin of the belly may be untouched.
Detach the shoulders and the legs; do not touch the head; [577] ]season with salt and pepper; sprinkle with a few drops of brandy, and leave to [marinade]. With the hare’s liver, some fat bacon, and some truffle parings, prepare a [gratin] forcemeat. Prepare another forcemeat with the meat of the shoulders and the legs, an equal weight of fat bacon, one egg, a pinch of wild thyme, salt, pepper, spices, and the brandy of the [marinade]. Rub this forcemeat through a sieve, and add to it the [gratin] forcemeat, one-half lb. of fat bacon, and five oz. of truffles cut into dice.
Fill the boned hare with this preparation; sew it up, and tie the head to the back in such wise as to give the piece the appearance of the animal at rest.
Wrap it in slices of bacon, and set it in a terrine lined with the latter; sprinkle with a glassful of brandy, and place in the oven for thirty minutes with lid off.
Then pour into the terrine a [fumet] prepared with red wine from the hare’s bones; cover, and then cook in the oven gently for three hours.
Leave to half-cool; drain away the cooking-liquor, and carefully remove the slices of bacon. Strain the cooking-liquor through muslin; return it to the terrine, and fill up the latter with savoury jelly.
Keep in the cool for two hours before serving.