Roast Hare (Superior Receipt)

Ingredients

• 1 hare
• forcemeat
• bacon
• butter
• 2 tablespoons currant jelly
• 0.5 pint brown gravy

Instructions

1. Using a very sharp knife, carefully remove the bones from the back and thighs (or back only), taking great care not to cut through the skin that adheres closely to the spine.
2. Clear the flesh from the inside of the backbone first, laying it back to the right and left from the centre to the tips.
3. Work the knife on the upper side quite to the spine, then separate the bone at the first joint from the neck-bone or ribs.
4. Pass the knife with caution under the skin down the middle of the back to fully detach the backbone.
5. Bone the thighs following the same method used for boning fowl.
6. Prepare nearly double the usual quantity of forcemeat.
7. Line the body of the hare with delicate slices of bacon that have been trimmed of rind and edges.
8. Restore the legs to their original shape using the forcemeat and fill the body cavity.
9. Sew up the hare and truss it as usual.
10. Lard the hare or not, as most convenient.
11. During roasting, keep the hare basted plentifully with butter.
12. Melt two tablespoonsful of the finest currant jelly in half a pint of rich brown gravy to prepare a sweet sauce, if desired.
13. Serve the roast hare with the currant jelly sauce or the customary accompaniment.