If a hare is old do not roast it, but make soup of it. Wash and soak
it in water for an hour, and change the water several times, having
made a little slit in the neck to let out the blood. Take out the
heart and liver, and scald them. Drain, dry, and truss the hare. Make
a force-meat richer and more moist than usual, and add to it the heart
and liver minced fine. Soak the bread-crumbs in a little claret before
you mix them with the other ingredients. Stuff the body of the hare
with this force-meat, and sew it up. Put it on the spit, rub it with
butter, and roast it before a brisk fire. For the first half hour baste
it with butter; and afterwards with cream, or with milk thickened with
beaten yolk of egg. At the last, dredge it lightly with flour. The hare
will require about two hours roasting.
For sauce, take the drippings of the hare mixed with cream or
with claret, and a little lemon-juice, a bit of butter, and some
bread-crumbs. Give it a boil up, and send it to table in a boat.
Garnish the hare with slices of currant jelly laid round it in the
dish.