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 sprig 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
about a dozen and a half 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.