When newly killed, the body is stiff; as it grows stale, it becomes limp.
As soon as you receive a hare, take out the liver, parboil it, and keep it for the stuffing; some are very fond of it. Do not use it if it be not quite fresh and good. Some mince it, and send it up as a garnish in little hillocks round the dish. Wipe the hare quite dry, rub the inside with pepper, and hang it up in a dry, cool place.
Paunch and skin[141-*] your hare, wash it, and lay it in a large pan of cold water four or five hours, changing the water two or three times; lay it in a clean cloth, and dry it well, then truss it.
To make the stuffing, see [No. 379]. Do not make it too thin; it should be of cohesive consistence: if it is not sufficiently stiff, it is good for nothing. Put this into the belly, and sew it up tight.
Cut the neck-skin to let the blood out, or it will never appear to be done enough; spit it, and baste it with drippings,[141-†] (or the juices of the back will be dried up before the upper joints of the legs are half done,) till you think it is nearly done, which a middling-sized hare will be in about an hour and a quarter. When it is almost roasted enough, put a little bit of butter into your basting-ladle, and baste it with this, and flour it, and froth it nicely.
Serve it with good gravy ([No. 329], or [No. 347]), and currant-jelly. For another stuffing, see receipt [No. 379]. Some cooks cut off the head and divide it, and lay one half on each side the hare.
Cold roast hare will make excellent soup ([No. 241]), chopped to pieces, and stewed in three quarts of water for a couple of hours; the stuffing will be a very agreeable substitute for sweet herbs and seasoning. See receipt for hare soup ([No. 241]), hashed hare ([No. 529]), and mock hare, next receipt.
Mock Hare.—(No. 66.*)
Cut out the fillet (i. e. the inside lean) of a sirloin of beef, leaving the fat to roast with the joint. Prepare some nice stuffing, as directed for a hare in [No. 66], or [379]; put this on the beef, and roll it up with tape, put a skewer through it, and tie that on a spit.
Obs. If the beef is of prime quality, has been kept till thoroughly tender, and you serve with it the accompaniments that usually attend roast hare (Nos. [329], [344], &c.), or stew it, and serve it with a rich thickened sauce garnished with forcemeat balls ([No. 379]), the most fastidious palate will have no reason to regret that the game season is over.