Take a large newly killed hare, or two rabbits; cut them up and wash
the pieces. Save all the blood, (which adds much to the flavour of the
hare,) and strain it through a sieve. Put the pieces into a soup-pot
with four whole onions stuck with a few cloves, four or five blades of
mace, a head of celery cut small, and a bunch of parsley with a large
bunch of sweet marjoram and one of sweet basil, all tied together.
Salt and cayenne to your taste. Pour in three quarts of water, and
stew it gently an hour and a half. Then put in the strained blood and
simmer it for another hour, at least. Do not let it actually boil, as
that will cause the blood to curdle. Then strain it, and pound half the
meat in a mortar, and stir it into the soup to thicken it, and cut the
remainder of the meat into small mouthfuls. Stir in, at the last, a
jill or two glasses of red wine, and a large table-spoonful of currant
jelly. Boil it slowly a few minutes longer, and then put it into your
tureen. It will be much improved by the addition of two or three dozen
small force-meat balls, about the size of a nutmeg. This soup will
require cooking at least four hours.
Partridge, pheasant, or grouse soup may be made in a similar manner.
If you have any clear gravy soup, you may cut up the hare, season it
as above, and put it into a jug or jar well covered and set in boiling
water till the meat is tender. Then put it into the gravy soup, add the
wine, and let it come to a boil. Send it to table with the pieces of
the hare in the soup.
When hare soup is made in this last manner, omit using the blood.