Jugged Hare
I had never heard of Jugged Hare before my interview with the BBC. Now I know and reached out Great British Chefs for a modern take on this dish.
Servings 4 servings
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 hare skinned and gutted
- 1 2/3 pints red wine
- 3/4 pint beef stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 3/4 oz butter
- 1 large onion diced
- 2 stalks celery sliced
- 1 large carrot roughly diced
- 4 cloves garlic crushed
- 1 tsp salt
- 6 medium black peppercorns
- 6 large juniper berries dried
- 1 sprig sprig of thyme large
- 2 tsp cornstarch
Instructions
- First, joint the hare. I did this in a way that both diners would have one generous-sized thigh portion and a smaller leg bone each. I then cut each side of the saddle into three large chunks, so they wouldn’t shrink too small during cooking and get lost in the gravy
- Marinade the hare in the red wine, beef stock and bay leaves for anywhere between 5 and 36 hours. If the hare isn’t fully submerged, remember to turn it from time to time so that it colours evenly
- Heat the butter in a dutch oven or thick-based casserole dish (choose one which has a tightly fitting lid). Remove the hare from the marinade (reserving the marinade) and brown it in the butter, long enough to colour the outside of the hare but not so long that the meat starts to cook through. Remove the hare from the pan and set to one side
- If needed, add a little more butter to the casserole dish. Soften the onions, celery and carrots for 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for a couple more minutes
- Add most of the reserved marinade to the pan, keeping back 5 tablespoons for later. Bring it to a quick boil for 2 minutes
- Turn down the temperature and return the hare to the pan. While the hare is on a slow simmer on the hob, grind the black pepper and juniper berries in a pestle and mortar or a dry spice grinder. Add to the pan along with a teaspoon of salt, the thyme, and bay leaves from the marinade
- Preheat the oven to 140°C/gas mark 1
- Place the lid tightly on the casserole dish and cook in the oven for 3 1/2 hours
- Add the cornstarcchto the 5 tablespoons of reserved marinade and stir. Remove the hare from the oven and stir in the cornflour mixture to thicken the sauce a little and introduce a nice sheen
Notes
The term ‘jugging’ comes from the traditional practice of cooking an animal inside a jug, which is placed in a pan of hot water - like a sort of meaty bain marie.
But the results are tantamount to stewing the hare in a casserole dish at a low heat for a long time. Many jugged hare recipes also allude to forcemeat balls, which, in many ways, are a Medieval way of shoehorning as much meat as possible into the dish. I didn’t want too many flavours to distract from the hare’s distinctive gamey flavours, so I decided against forcemeat balls and kept the recipe pared down and simple, making the hare the star of this beautiful dish.