It is proper to observe, that hares are fit to be sent up to a nobleman's table, only when they still shew their age. In order to judge of their age, feel the first joint of the fore claw: if you find a small nut, the animal is still young: should this nut have disappeared, turn the claw sideways, and if the joint crack, that is a sign of its being still tender; if not, it is only fit to be made en daube, or en civet: but if very tough, a daube is preferable; yet it is a very insignificant dish, particularly as it requires high seasoning; it is too nourishing to be sent up to the table of any nobleman, or of a real epicure.

Fillets Of Hare En Chevreuil

Take the fillets of three hares, according to the size of your dish, detach the fillets, and lard them with bacon cut very equally, then put them into a deep vessel, with salt and pepper, a little parsley, two onions cut into slices, a bay-leaf, a little thyme, a glass of vinegar, and half a glass of water. Let all this be marinaded for a couple of days, and then drain the fillets, and mark them in a saute pan with a little butter: bake them under-done, and glaze them with a light glaze, as they are always dark enough. Send them up with a poivrade under.

Hare En Daube

After having skinned, emptied, and washed off the blood of a hare, cut it through the middle. Have ready layers of bacon well seasoned with chopped parsley, spices, salt and pepper. Lard the hare as thick as you can ; put slices of bacon into the bottom of a stew-pan, cover them with the bits of hare, tie up a large bundle of parsley, seasoned with thyme, bay-leaves, sweet bazil, a clove and common spices, a few carrots, four large white onions, two calf's feet, and a few pieces of breast of bacon; season the whole with salt, pepper, etc. and a few roots of parsley. Moisten with a couple of spoonfuls of broth, and a pint of white wine; cover the whole with a round of buttered paper, to prevent the bare from getting dry; close it hermetically, and let it stew for three hours as gently as possible: then take it off the fire; drain the hare; skim the liquor, strain it through a silk sieve, and let it cool, that it may be eaten cold, though it may be served hot, with a garnish all round. In this latter case make a roux with a little flour and butter; when of a very light colour, moisten it with the liquor in which the hare has been stewed, and let it boil enough for the flour to be done, and then send it up, plain as it is. N.B. - If you wish the jelly to look bright, break a couple of eggs into it, before it is hot; beat it over the fire till it begins boiling, then lay it aside with a cover and a little fire over it; when limpid, drain it through a cloth, and let it cool, to be used occasionally.

Civet Of Hare, Served As Soup

Skin and empty the hare, but take care not to waste the blood. Cut off the two legs, and divide them into two or three pieces; cut the body into equal pieces; be particular in preserving the blood, to be used as follows. Take half a pound of the breast of bacon, cut it into small square pieces about an inch thick, blanch them in water, and put them into the stew-pan,with a small lump of butter; let them fry till they are of a fine brown; take out the bacon, and put the pieces of hare into the stew-pan; stew them in the butter till firm; then take them out and make a roux, with a little flour, which must not be kept too long on the fire. Moisten with about a quart of broth and a pint of red wine; put in the pieces of hare, the bacon, a bunch of parsley, etc. seasoned with pepper, salt, spices, and a few white onions, to give a relish, together with some trimmings of mushrooms. Let the whole boil for an hour, and try whether the pieces of hare are done. Skim the fat off the sauce; then put the members into a clean stew-pan, one after another, as also the bacon; then skim the sauce well, reduce it to a good sub-stance, that it may stick round the hare; and put the sauce over the members through a tammy. You must have ready some white onions fried in butter till they are of a light brown; then stew them in a little consomme. Have likewise some mushrooms stewed in butter, and put them with the onions to take off the butter. Now the blood and liver, that have been kept apart, are to be poured into the sauce as thickening. You must not let the sauce boil, or else the blood would in some measure curdle, and the sauce would not be of the same dark brown colour. Civet must appear as black as possible: then put in the onions and mushrooms, and send up highly seasoned. The consomme in which you have boiled the onions and the mushrooms, must be reduced, and put with the sauce.