Cookery.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 999, 24 April 1891, Page 6

Cookery.

THE GAME SEASON. STEWED HARK. An easy way of cooking a hare is the following Prepare the hare for jagging ; put it into a atewpan with a few sweet herbs, half-a-dozen cloves, the same of allspice and black peppsr, two large onions, and a rod of emon peel ; cover it with water ; when it oils skim it clean, and let it simmer gent y till tender (about two hours) ; then take the meat up with a slice, set It by a fire to keep hot while you thicken the gravy ; take three ounces of butter and’soms flour rub together, put in the gravy, stir it well, and let it boii about ten minutes ; strain it through a sieve over the meat, and it is ready. BRAISED HARK. Those who do not object to the hare making its appearance at tablejia its entirety will find the following method of preparation extremely dainty, and very much to be preferred to roasting, as the flesh of a hare when roasted is apt to be exceedingly dry. Fill the inside with good forcemeat, saw up the opening securely, and wrap the hare endrely m slices of fat bacon, then lay it in a large saucepan with four tablespoonfuls of grated carrot, two tablespoonfuls of chopped onion, a seasoning of salt and pepper, a dozen button mush-rooms—-or failing these, some good mushroom ketchup and a pint and a half of good stock. Cover closely, and simmer slowly from 2£ to 3 boura. When done enough, take up the hare, and place it on a hot dish, thicken the sauce slightly with roux, boil up sharply, and pour a small quantity over the hare. Garnish round about with curled bacon and sliced lemon, and serve accompnied by more sauce, in a tnreen. „ , . , , jn order to render the flesh as tender and juicy as posssible, let the hare hang in a cool place for several days before being cooked, hang it by the hind legs, and do not paunch it till the the third or fourth day, then empty it carefully, and wipe the inside well each day with a clean, soft cloth. A small piece of charcoal, or a pealed, raw onion placed inside the hare helps to preserve it, but it should be carefully examined every day, because if kept too long it becomes exceedingly unpleasant. WILD DECK. The birds are roasted like common ducks, but without stuffing, and with a rather less allowance of time for cooking. For example, a full-sized dock will take from three quarters of an hour to an hour in roasting, but a wild duck will take from forty to fifty minutes. Before carving, the knife Bhould be drawn longitudinally along the breast, and upon these a little csyenno pepper must be sprinkled and a lemon squeezed. They require a good made gravy, as described below. They are excellent half roasted and hashed in a very good gravy. The gravy Simmer a teacupful of port wine, the same quantity of good gravy, a small shalot, with pepper nut. me» mace, and salt to taste, for about ten minutes ; pat in a bit of butter and flour; give it all one boil, and pour it over the birds or serve in a sauce tureen. RAGOUT OF DUCK, OR ANT KIFO OF POULTRY OR GAME. Partly roast, then divide into joints, or pieces of a suitable size for helping at table._ Set it on a stewpan, with a pint and a hall, of broth, or, if yon have no broth, water, with any little trimmings of meat to enrich it • a large onion stuck with cloves, a dozen berries of allspice, the same quantity of black pepper and the rind of half a lemon, shaved thin. When it boils skin it very clean, and then let it simmer gently with the lid close, for an hour and a half. Then strain off the liquor, and take out the pieces,, whi :h keep hot in a basin or deep dieh, Rinse the stew/ pan or use a c’ean one, in which put 2oz of

butter and as much flour or other thickening as will bring it to a stiff paste ; add to it tho gravy by degrees. Let it boil up, then add a glass of port wine, a little lemon juice, and a teaspoonful.of salt. Simmer a few minutes ; put the' meat in a deep dish, straiD the gravy over and garnish with sippets of toasted bread. The flavour maybe varied at pleasure by adding kstehup, cuny powder, or vinegar. HARE SOUFFLE. Free theunoooked fiUet3 from all the nerves sinews, &c; pound the meat and rub it through a flue sieve, then, for 4oz of pounded meat'add the yolks of three egks, three or four troffies chopoed. fine, salt, pepper, and cayenne, and when this is well mixed stir to it about a quarter of a pint of strong stock, or Espagnole, flavoured with the truffle trimmings, and the whites of five eggs previously whipped to a stiff froth, with a pinch of salt; pour this mixture into little paper cases (previously oiled and dried), they should be only three part 3 full ; put a tiny piece of butter on each, and bake in a moderate oven for twelve or fifteen minutes. Serve with the same Espagnole you used for the sou Sid, reduced and tammied ; or you can nse tomato sauce. Be careful not to beat the whites of egg too vigorously into the mixture, or it will not rise. A DISH OF PIGEONS. Pick and bone two pigeons, fill them with farce, and season rather highly with pepper and salt. Tie them up in a roll in a buttered cloth, like a miniature galatiae, and simmer them for about three quarters of an hour in some good stock ; then take them out, tie them ud in the cloth again to keep them a nice Bhape, and set them a-ide to get cold ; when quite cold cut them in neat slices and cover each well with brown chaudfroid sauce and when this ia set, trim the slices, di3b them on a bed of finely chopped aspic, and garnish with either a French bean or a tomato salad. Farce : —Chop together equal quanti- - ties of fat bacon and veal, or chickeD, and pound them till smooth, seasoning the mix. tare with pepper and salt. Then mix to it some roughly chopped truffles and mushrooms and some path de fois gras, and use. If truffles are not handy, use a few mushrooms. HARE SOUP. Skin and paunch a hare, saving all the blood, which set aside. Wash the meat in cold water in a clean vessel, and strain the washing into a soup pan. Cut off all the flesh Break the bones and put them with the meat into 3or 4 quarts of water, add an onion, clove 3. black pepper and salt. Let the water boil, then Bimmer four honrs and strain. Thicken with flour, add glass of port wine, a littl* butter, stir till desolved.