11977 Lepre in Salmì - Jugged Hare

Someone here asked me recently for my husband's recipe for jugged hare - which [U][I]he[/I][/U] loved and [U][I]I[/I][/U] loathe. I remebered that he had adapted a recipe and written it down on a 'scrap of paper'. I said I would try and find it, but despite hunting high and low I haven't.... it has disappeared over the past 40 odd years and seven house moves. But I do still have his/our little pressure cooker book - a bit scruffy now - which contains the recipe he adapted. I do know that adaptations were refined to his personal taste in spices - so the main ingredients are the same.

It is in Italian, and if anyone wants to try it and can't understand - send me a PM and I'l translate for you... Hope you enjoy it if you do try it. I think it is 'orrible!

Attached below - hope they can be read!

Category
Food & Drink

Thanks Carole. I also have a recipe which is almost identical in my maternal grandmother's favourite recipes book, all exquisitely handwritten in Spanish by my grandmother. There are some slight differences in the herbs and spices and it is called "Portuguese-style Hare". I used to love it but it has been ages since I have eaten it. You really need to use wild hare and it is difficult to get unless you have a husband or relative who loves to hunt, which I don't. You can't get the same flavour if you use an ordinary rabbit.

It sounds very nice - I wonder if Carole's husband used juniper berries (perhaps in place of the cloves?) as one of his adjustments. The only ingredient I would take issue with is the thin cream, added at the end - I wouldn't add that, personally.

Of course, it doesn't have to be cooked in a pressure coooker - it could be done on top of the stove perfectly well, though it would take a bit longer.

Charles,
You could be right about the use of ginepro (juniper). He used them a lot when cooking meat, and I always enjoyed meat cooked and lightly flavoured with them with them. He also used to make a great salad with chesnuts and juniper - I'd almost forgotten about that!

[U]IF[/U] I liked salmì, I would probably have agreed with you about the cream too...

He never had a problem getting a hare or other game - many of our friends were hunters and others lived in the country with small farms.

I think that the 1/2 cup of cream is used as a thickener for the sauce. In the recipe I have this is replaced by "beurre manié", a mixture of butter and flour also used for thickening sauces. I agree with Charles, very good results can be achieved cooking it on an ordinary stove. I would say that cooking it on low over a long period of time would be perfect.

Thanks Carole, bit more of the buon 'vino Barbera' and less of the liver I think, but on balance, I need JC's 'yuk' button, subito!

[quote=juliancoll;114255]Forum is in great need of a "Yuk!" icon. :bigergrin:[/quote]

[quote=Persephone;114321]Thanks Carole, bit more of the buon 'vino Barbera' and less of the liver I think, but on balance, I need JC's 'yuk' button, subito![/quote]

Can't disagree with that... I loathe salmì (of anything) yuk yuk yuk! :err:

Mind you, the following recipe in the book for pernici (partridge) does look pretty good. As an aside, Bruno (DH) never used a pressure cooker before we met, but I had grown up in a home where there had nearly always been one. Though the first one I remember was 'a bit' strange, it was replaced with a lovely new Prestige one in the late 50's. I took a new 'high dome' Prestige with me to Italy and [I]that[/I] 'gave up the ghost' in 2005, when I let the pressure drop, without realising it, and it burned dry, ruining the interior base. So it was off to get my current little (5lt) L'Agostini stainless steel one.

[IMG]http://www.boboliniregali.it/prodotti/lagostina/p_pentole_pressione_pandora.jpg[/IMG]
I wouldn't be without one... time saving and great for retaining the full flavour of food.