The version withwhich I am familiar seems to come from Ali-Bab(Henri
Babinski)'s Gastronomie Practique first published in1907. It was
republished in 2001.

The red wine called for is"1 bottle very good red burgandy"

Babinski was an engineer, not a cook, apparently never a cook.



On Sat, 31 Jan 2004 17:32:59 +0100, Ian Hoare >
wrote:

>Salut/Hi gerald,
>
> le/on Sat, 31 Jan 2004 08:45:36 -0500, tu disais/you said:-
>
>>Lievre a la Royal is one of the most famous dishes utilizing Blood
>>Sauce.
>
>And wonderful it is too. Patrick Ceaux, a young chef who recently took over
>near us, had it on the menu on alternate weeks this autumn. After all the
>years I've known about it, I was able to try it. Phenomenal, as you say,
>though we had it with a youngish good Médoc (sorry, forgot which "chef's
>choice").
>
>>Most Recipies call for cooking down a litre or so of red Rhone type
>>wine.
>
>Err....
>
>>Strips of wild hare wrapped around foie gras with a blood sauce.
>
>Nope. Sorry. No foie gras, and it's not strips.
>
>Have a look at one of the earliest written recipes as found in Elizabeth
>David's "Mediterranean food"
>
> LIEVRE A LA ROYALE
>
> This famous recipe for lièvre a la royale was invented by
> Senator Couteaux, who contributed regular articles to the Paris
> newspaper Le Temps. On November 29, 1898, instead of his usual
> political column, appeared this remarkable recipe. M. Couteaux
> related at length how he had spent a week in Poitou hunting the
> right kind of hare; how, the exactly suitable animal at last in his
> hands, he instantly took the train to Paris, sent out his invitations,
> and hurried off to consult his friend Spüller, who ran a well-known
> restaurant in the Rue Favart, to arrange the preparation and cook-
> ing of his hare for the following day. The dish takes from noon
> until 7 o'clock to prepare and cook, and Senator Couteaux tells
> how by 6 o'clock the exquisite aroma had penetrated the doors of
> Spüller's restaurant, floated down the street and out into the boule-
> vard, where the passers-by sniffed the scented air; an excitable
> crowd gathered, and the whole quartier was ‘mis en imoi'. If you ever
> feel like devoting the time (perhaps you need not afkr all spend a
> week catching your hare) and the ingredients to cooking this dish
> you will see that the senator was not exaggerating.
> I have translated the recipe as faithfully as possible. It is very
> lengthy and there are repetitions. But in those days there was plenty
> of space to fill up; and from the senator's precise instructions one
> can well imagine the delightful old gentleman bending over his
> ‘daubière', and the pride with which he presented this beautiful
> creation to his gourmet friends.
>
> Ingredients
>
> ‘You require a male hare, with red fur, killed if possible in
> mountainous country; of fine French descent (characterized by the
> light nervous elegance of head and limbs), weighing from s to 6
> pounds, that is to say older than a leveret but still adolescent. The
> important thing is that the hare should have been cleanly killed
> and so not have lost a drop of blood.
> ‘The fat to cook it: 2 or 3 tablespoons of goose fat, 1 lb of fat
> bacon rashers; 1 lb of bacon in one piece.
> Liquid: 6 oz of good red wine vinegar. Two bottles of Macon or
> Médoc, whichever you please, but in any case not less than 2 years
> old.
> ‘Utensils: A daubière, or oblong stewing pan, of well-tinned
> copper, 8 inches high, 12 inches long, 8 inches wide and possessed
> of a hermetically closing cover; a small bowl in which to preserve
> the blood of the hare, and later to stir it when it comes to incorporating
>it in the sauce; a double-handled vegetable chopper; a large
> shallow serving dish; a sieve; a small wooden pestle.
>
> ‘The wine to serve: Preferably a St Julien or Moulin à Vent.
>
>
> ‘Preliminary Preparations
>
> ‘Skin and clean the hare. Keep aside the heart, the liver, and the
> lungs. Keep aside also and with great care the blood. (It is tradi-
> tional to add 2 or 3 small glasses of fine old cognac to the blood; but
> this is not indispensable; M. Couteaux finally decided against this
> addition.)
> 1n the usual way prepare a medium-sized carrot, cut into four;
> 4 medium onions each stuck with a clove; 20 cloves of garlic; 40
> cloves of shallot; a bouquet garni, composed of a bay leaf, a sprig of
> thyme, and some pieces of parsley.
> ‘Get ready some charcoal, in large pieces, which you will presently
> be needing, burning fast.
>
> ‘First Operation (from half~past twelve until four 0' clock) *
>
> ‘At 12.30 coat the bottom and sides of the stewpan with the
> goose fat; then at the bottom of the pan arrange a bed of rashers of
> bacon.
> ‘Cut off the head and neck of the ha leaving only the back and
> the legs. Then place the hare at full length on the bed of bacon, on
> its back. Cover it with another layer of bacon. Now all your bacon
> rashers are used up.
>
>'Now add the carrot; the onions; the 20 cloves of garlic; the 40
>cloves of shallot;* the bouquet garni.
>'Pour over the ha
>(i) the 6 oz of red wine vinegar, and
>(ii) a bottle and a halfof 2 year/old Macon (or Medoc).
>
>'Season with pepper and salt in reasonable quantity.
>
>'At one o'clock. The daubiere being thus arranged, put on the lid
>and set the fire going (either a gas stove or an ordinary range). On
>the top of the lid place 3 or 4. large pieces of charcoal in an
>incandescent state, well alight and glowing.
>
>'Regulate your heat so that the hare may cook for 3 hours, over
>a gentle and regular fire, continuously.
>
>'Second Operation (to be carried out during the first cooking of the hare)
>
>'First chop exceedingly finely the four following ingredients,
>chopping each one separately:
>(i) 1 lb of bacon.
>(ii) the heart, liver, and lungs of the hare,
>(iii) 10 cloves of garlic,
>(iv) 20 cloves of shallot.
>
>'The chopping of the garlic and the shallots must ie so fine that each of
>them attain as nearly as possible a molecular state.
>
>'This is one of the first conditions of success of this marvellous
>dish, in which the multiple and diverse perfumes and aromas
>melt into a whole so harmonious that neither one dominates, nor
>discloses its particular origin, and so arouse some preconceived
>prejudice, however regrettable.
>
>'The bacon, the insides of the hare, the garlic, and shallots being
>chopped very fine, and separately, blend them all together
>thoroughly, so as to obtain an absolutely perfect mixture. Keep
>this mixture aside.
>
>* In spite of the enormous quantity of garlic and shallots which enter
>into the composition of lièvre a la royale, the remarkable fact is that
>to a certain extent the two ingredients cancel each other out, so that the
>uninitiated would hardly suspect their presence.
>
>' Third Operation (from four o'clock until a quarter to seven)
>
>'At four o'clock. Remove the stewpan from the fire. Take the hare
>out very delicately; put it on a dish. Then remove all the debris of
>the bacon, carrot, onions, garlic, shallot, which may be clinging
>to it; return these debris to the pan.
>
>'The Sauce. Now take a large deep dish and a sieve. Empty the
>contents of the pan into the sieve, which you have placed over the
>dish; with a small wooden pestle pound the contents of the sieve,
>extracting all the juice, which forms a coulis in the dish.
>
>'Mixing the coulis and the hachis (the chopped mixture). Now comes
>the moment to make use of the mixture which was the subject of
>the second operation. Incorporate this into the coulis.
>
>'Heat the half bottle of wine left over from the first operation.
>Pour this hot wine into the mixture of coulis and bachis and stir the
>whole well together.
>
>'At balf-past four. Return to the stewpan:
>(i) the mixture of coulis and hachis,
>(ii) the hare, together with any of the bones which may have
>become detached during the cooking.
>
>'Return the pan to the stove, with the same gentle and regular fire
>underneath and on the top, for another 1 1/2 hours' cooking.
>
>'At six o'clock. As the excess of fat, issuing from the necessary
>quantity of bacon, will prevent you from judging the state of the
>sauce, you must now proceed to operate a first removal of the fat. Your
>work will not actually be completed until the sauce has become
>sufficiently amalgamated to attain a consistence approximating to
>that of a puree of potatoes; not quite, however, for if you tried to
>make it too thick, you would end by so reducing it that there
>would not be sufficient to moisten the flesh (by nature dry) of the
>hare.
>
>'Your hare having therefore had the fat removed, can continue
>to cook, still on a very slow fin, until the moment comes for you to add
>the blood which you have reserved with the utmost care as has
>already been instructed.
>
> ‘Fourth Operation (quarter of an hour before serving)
>
> ‘At quarter to seven. The amalgamation of the sauce proceeding
> successfully, a fourth and last operation will finally and rapidly
> bring it to completion.
>
> ‘Addition of the blood to the hare. With the addition of the blood, not
> only will you hasten the amalgamation of the sauce but also give it
> a fine brown colour; the darker it is the more appetizing. This
> addition of the blood should not be made more than 30 minutes
> before serving; it must also be preceded by a second removal of the fat.
>
> ‘Therefore, effectively remove the fat; after which, without
> losing a minute, turn to the operation of adding the blood.
>
> ‘(i) Whip the blood with a fork, until, if any of it has become
> curdled, it is smooth again. (Note: the optional addition of the
> brandy mentioned at the beginning helps to prevent the curdling of
> the blood.)
>
> ‘(ii) Pour the blood into the sauce, taking care to stir the contents
> of the pan from top to bottom and from right to left, so that the
> blood will penetrate into every corner of the pan.
>
> ‘Now taste; add pepper and salt if necessary. A little later (10
> minutes at a maximum) get ready to serve.
>
> ‘Arrangements for serving
>
> ‘At seven o'clock. Remove from the pan your hare, whose volume
> by this time has naturally somewhat shrunk.
>
> ‘At any rate, in the centre of the serving dish, place all that still
> has the consistency of meat, the bones, entirely denuded, and now
> useless, being thrown away, and now finally around this hare en
> compote pour the admirable sauce which has been so carefully
> created.'
>
> Needless to say (concludes the senator) that to use a knife to serve
> the hare would be a sacrilege. A spoon alone is amply sufficient.
>
> * These times are given for a dinner to be served at seven o'clock.