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Hare, Roast

Roasted hare wrapped in bacon, served with a liver and stock sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Hare, Roast

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the hare

  1. Choose a young hare with smooth claws and a narrow cleft in the lip.

  2. Hang the hare for about 8 days for best flavor.

  3. Skin the hare.

  4. Draw the hare.

  5. Truss the hare as instructed in the trussing chapter.

  6. If using forcemeat, press it lightly inside the hare.

  7. Sew up the body of the hare.

  8. Brush the hare with warm fat.

  9. Cover the back of the hare with bacon slices.

  10. Tie the hare down with string in 3 or 4 places.

  11. Roast the hare in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).

  12. Baste the hare frequently with milk and optional butter.

Make the liver sauce

  1. Remove the gall-bladder from the liver.

  2. Place the liver in cold water.

  3. Bring the liver to a boil.

  4. Cook the liver for 5 minutes.

  5. Drain the liver.

  6. Chop the liver finely.

  7. Melt the butter in a small saucepan.

  8. Add the liver, onion, parsley, and thyme to the butter.

  9. Fry the mixture for about 10 minutes.

  10. Drain the mixture, then return the butter to the pan.

  11. Pound the liver mixture until smooth.

  12. Rub the mixture through a fine sieve.

  13. Reheat the butter.

  14. Stir in the flour.

  15. Cook until a nut-brown roux forms.

  16. Add the stock (or milk).

  17. Stir until the mixture boils.

  18. Add the liver mixture.

  19. Season to taste.

  20. Simmer the sauce for about 10 minutes.

  21. Add the port just before serving.

Finish and serve

  1. When the hare is nearly cooked, remove the bacon.

  2. Allow the back of the hare to brown.

  3. Dredge the back lightly with flour.

  4. Baste frequently.

  5. Remove the trussing strings.

  6. Serve the hare on a hot dish.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Shallot + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,476 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Hare
Lean game meat that stays moist when basted and roasted gently.
Bacon
Its fat renders over the back, basting the meat and adding savory flavor.
Liver (in the method)
Adds richness and body to the sauce, with a deep, savory flavor.
Butter
Fat that carries flavor and forms the base of the roux.
Flour
Thickens the sauce when cooked in butter as a roux and lightly coats the browning back.
Port
Adds sweetness and depth to the sauce when added at the end.

The step that matters

Cooking the nut-brown roux. Flour cooked in butter thickens the sauce and gives color and nutty flavor, but it scorches quickly. Stirring constantly keeps it from burning, since a burnt roux turns bitter.

Swap the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, milk, butter, flour, parsley, thyme, pepper):

  1. Shallotthe original
  2. Carrotfits about as well
  3. Leekfits about as well
  4. Potatofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, milk, butter, flour, parsley, thyme, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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