Cooking a Hare?

MidlandsHunter

I was out rabbiting today and ended up accidentally adding a hare to the quarry (its distance and the way it was lying made it look like nothing more than a bunny). Thankfully hares are in season at the moment.

As I don't like shooting anything I won't eat, I'm going to cook it.

My question is has anyone eaten it and would you prepare and cook it the same as rabbit?

Thanks.

cookimonster

I like to eat hare, but I prefer to watch them when out on my permissions. Having said that there another 'poor man's venison'. Clean it out from neck to ar#e, hang it in it's jacket for about 3-5 days in cold storage. Skin it and if it's not too big, roast it for 30 minutes @ 180C then slow cook it for hour or so immersed in a rich red wine sauce (a couple of meal makers and a bottle of red, Sharaz etc). You may add your usual root veg for the last 30 minutes and serve with crispy roasted potatoes or heart attack creamed potatoes better still cheesy polenta.
If the hare is too big joint it and proceed as above. If wine and sauce is not your thing make up a tinfoil parcel buttered and seasoned on the inside, plenty of root veg chopped mixed with leeks, celery thyme and garlic as a bed of roots. Wrap up tightly bang in a very hot oven, 200C for 30 minutes then down to 150 for an hour or so, until tender. Open parcel and put back in oven to brown meat, served with bed of roots (mashed or as is).
Enjoy

FISMA.

Cookimonster - do you soak hare overnight in salt water? I always do for bunnies.

cookimonster

Hare is a red meat compared to rabbits white meat and is traditionally treated as dark game meat the same as pheasant and venison. Marinating the meats in a mixture of oil, wine and vinegar will give flavour, tenderise and break down unpalatable tissue. Using a salt & vinegar brine for a few hours has the same effect as well as leaching out any blood from the meat.

Just a note on preparation, traditionalists tell you to hang the hare unponched for 10 days or more but this increases the 'gamey' flavour of it that is some what no longer in fashion. Today's modern refrigeration replaces olden times storage methods that helped preserve the meat over a period of time but increased the IMO rather bitter and gamer flavour.

Grizzly 45

Or you can make them trad like this UK recpie
http://www.greatbritishchefs.com/recipes/classic-jugged-hare-recipe

zoe 3619

Hare is lovely.My absolute favorite meat,and nothing like rabbit.
Not much of a chef.but i would joint,fry until browned with onion and garlic,add stock and veg of choosing and let simmer for an hour.(sorry,fairly unimaginative, but envying you your hare..)

Rosahane

A blast from the past.
When we were kids the four of us were packed off for a month in pairs to my mother's home which was a farm in Cavan. It was a traditional mixed farm with cattle, sheep, horses and pigs, run by my batchelor uncle and three spinster aunts.
It was heaven and we were totally spoiled.
Food was a big deal, they made their own butter and bread and grew most of their own vegetables, had a big orchard and lots of fruit bushes. They also had chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese - one of the aunts had a qualification on poultry management.
Occasionally my uncle would shoot a hare and they cooked juggled hare which was a slow cooked casserole and very tasty.

Something like this: http://www.greatbritishchefs.com/recipes/jugged-hare-recipe

blindside88

I have a recipe for jugged hate that I'll dig out in the morning if you like. I've never tried it but the other recipes in the book are quite good

blindside88

This seems similar to it from what I remember

http://www.greatbritishchefs.com/recipes/classic-jugged-hare-recipe

MidlandsHunter

Thanks to all that's a great help some nice recipes there.

Before I posted this I had already quartered the animal and put it in brine until tomorrow ... i think il marinade it for a few hours tomorrow then continue with your fine recipes!

Grizzly 45

The traditional German hunters stew made from either rabbit or hare.
[Also makes for good soakage after a night on the schnapps]
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/25843/hasenpfeffer-rabbit-stew/

wexfordman2

Was in a similar position myself a few years back and cooked hare, have to say it was awful, but reading the above thread, I would say it's far more likely down to my cooking skills that the animal itself. Swore back then I would never eat hare again, bit this is making me think perhaps that might be unfair. Not that I'm going to head out looking for hare now, but really nice thread this.

Limerick Sovereigns

Can anyone with a shotgun shoot a hare in season?

Is there any requirement to get a permit etc. from NPWS?

Sorry if I'm taking the thread off on a tangent.

MidlandsHunter

Limerick Sovereigns wrote: »

Can anyone with a shotgun shoot a hare in season?

Is there any requirement to get a permit etc. from NPWS?

Sorry if I'm taking the thread off on a tangent.

No permit needed. According to the National Parks and Wildlife Service Hares can be taken in season which begins on the 26th of September and ends on the 28th of February. They can be taken by means of firearms (which would imply any firearm), coursing, and hunting with dogs.

There are very few places where hares may not be taken such as east and north slob and some places in Wexford.

dodderangler

MidlandsHunter wrote: »

No permit needed. According to the National Parks and Wildlife Service Hares can be taken in season which begins on the 26th of September and ends on the 28th of February. They can be taken by means of firearms (which would imply any firearm), coursing, and hunting with dogs.

There are very few places where hares may not be taken such as east and north slob and some places in Wexford.

I thought it was illegal to shoot hates with a rifle?

MidlandsHunter

(Update)

I ended up going with the traditional Jugged Hare recipe. I served it on a bed of rice which soaked up the rich sauce nicely and accompanied it with some baby potatoes.

I couldn't believe the quality of the meat, packed with strong and distinctive gamey flavour. It also turned out to be extremely tender, falling off the bone and shredded by the touch of a fork. I will definitely not be passing up the shot at a hare again!

hedzball

What most people fail to know when comparing the two is that the hare is actually closer related to the deer as opposed to the rabbit!





'hdz

Mellor

hedzball wrote: »

What most people fail to know when comparing the two is that the hare is actually closer related to the deer as opposed to the rabbit!

That's not true. I've heard it before and I've no idea where it comes from. But it's a complete myth.

Rabbits and hares (along with pikas) make up the one family. Deer are in a completely different order of animals, with other hoofed animals.
The only thin that they have is common is that they are mammals. Which makes them are much related to each other as they are to humans

viper123

Mellor wrote: »

That's not true. I've heard it before and I've no idea where it comes from. But it's a complete myth.

Rabbits and hares (along with pikas) make up the one family. Deer are in a completely different order of animals, with other hoofed animals.
The only thin that they have is common is that they are mammals. Which makes them are much related to each other as they are to humans

I assume he means the meat rather than the species...

Mellor

viper123 wrote: »

I assume he means the meat rather than the species...

He said "related". Not the meat was similar.
If you google hare and deer, you'll see the myth pop up a lot.

Bad_alibi

Mellor wrote: »

He said "related". Not the meat was similar.
If you google hare and deer, you'll see the myth pop up a lot.

You mean to tell me everything on the internet isn't true. I've just been rocked to my core. Haha.

Mellor

Bad_alibi wrote: »

You mean to tell me everything on the internet isn't true. I've just been rocked to my core. Haha.