Hare Soup.—Skin a fresh hare, and wipe it well
with a clean cloth; cut it open and clean it,
being careful to save all the blood, which is wanted
later on. Then cut up the body into neat pieces and
put these into a pan with three quarts of water; or
second stock can be used, or again, if the hare is a
small, poor one, put 2lb. of shin of beef with it.
Bring it to the boil, add a good bouquet, two onions,
one small carrot, half a head of celery, with twenty
peppercorns and cloves, skim it carefully, and allow
it to boil gently for one and a half hours. After this
take off the meat from the back and the upper parts of
the hind legs and put this aside, returning the bones,
etc., to the stock, which must be allowed to cook
for two hours more. Then cut off every scrap of
meat from the bones, pound it to a paste, and
rub the stock, vegetables and all, with this paste,
through a hair sieve. Bring this puree to the boil,
and stir into it an ounce of arrowroot previously
rubbed smooth with a little mushroom ketchup, and
a very little Worcester sauce; let it boil up for five
minutes, stirring it steadily, then draw it to the side,
let it cool and then add the pieces of meat set aside,
and the blood, stirring it now steadily one way, till
the colour changes and the soup is all but, but not
quite, boiling. Season to taste, scald out the tureen,
put a small sherry-glassful of wine, port or sherry,
into it, and pour on to it the hot soup, and serve at
once. If care is not taken when adding the blood,
the soup will curdle and be spoiled. (This is an old
fashioned Scotch recipe). Another very nice and
more economical soup may be made thus:—skin,
clean, and well wash the hare, reserving all the
this soup.