Non-Swedish dinner: Hare ragu

Saw a few frozen hare (wild, as opposed to domesticated rabbits) at my local supermarket and I knew I had to get one. Now, me finding a frozen hare at my local supermarket here outside of Stockholm is just about as unlikely as seeing most LTH readers finding one in next to the Edy's at Jewel. I can only assume the owner of the store knows a hunter...

I enjoy rabbit and have been especially keen on trying hare as I'd read from a few sources (primarily Hugh Fearnley–Whittingstall) that wild hare has a very pronounced "gaminess".

Anyone that's read more than a few of my posts knows that I try to document traditional Swedish dishes. Problem is - there aren't any involving hare. I'm sure Swedes have been eating hare over the centuries but how they did it is more than I've been able to find out. So, I had to switch nations and traditions and quickly stumbled on a nation/region proud to work with hare: Tuscany. This is my attempt at (Antonius, please forgive me!): Pappardelle al sugo di lepre.

Let's start with a picture that surely won't make the 2007 LTH photo album:



This is the defrosed hare (about 3 pounds) and the ingredients I used for a marinade (a couple of crushed juniper berries, bay leaves, black peppercorns, some pathetic celery, an onion and some parsley along with a non-pictured half bottle of wine).

I dismembered the little sucker and left it to soak in the marinade for about 4 hours.



While the hare marinated, I made a pasta dough with 4 eggs and the corresponding amount of flour and defrosted some beef broth/stock.



Here's the hare after it's soak as well as the rest of the ingredients (left to right, top to bottom): an onion, a few tablespoons of leftover guanciale fat, about a teaspoon dried rosemary, celery (from a new bunch!), carrots, parsley, pancetta, the strained and reserved marinade and, of course, the hare.

First, I browned the hare in canola oil:



After which, I cleaned my pot and added the guanciale fat, the chopped onion, celery, carrot and parsley as well as the rosemary and the diced pancetta. These were slowly sauted on medium-low heat until transparent and soft.

Next, I added the browned hare and the saved marinade:



I covered the pot leaving only a crack open and set the stove to low and left everything to simmer for about 3 hours.

After:



(I added warm beef broth as the liquid in the pot evaporated.)

Next, I removed the hare from the pot and removed the meat from the bones. I carefully shredded/chopped the meat (constantly looking for shot and shards of bones...) and added the meat back to the pot.



The "ragu" was left to simmer after adding a few more ladelfulls of broth.

Meanwhile, I brought a large pot of salted water to a boil while I rolled out and cut my pappardelle. The pappardelle cooked for about 3 minutes:





Served:





It was tasty, but...

I've got two questions I'm hoping to get some help with.

1) It wasn't very saucy. Somewhere during the day, I got it through my head that it would be more "authentic" if I left tomatoes and garlic out of the dish. The dish ended up being a lot like Italian beef: (tasty) meat and some (tasty) jus. I'm now thinking that tomatoes probably would have helped this out and made it more saucy regardless of "authenticity" (which probably was misguided from the beginning?). How else would one thicken the pan juices? Cream can't be right... Beurre manié too French... Agar agar (just joking!)?

2) It didn't taste very gamey. It was, once again, tasty but (and this truly pains me to type) could have easily just been beef, lamb at best. I'm positive that the unadulterated hare would have had a very gamey flavor. It had a very distinct smell as I was sectioning it. Was the flavor lost in the marinade? I reused it hoping to preserve any leached-out flavor. In the cooking? Did it just evaporate? Or, was my broth too powerfully beefy?

I've even been wondering as to whether this undoubtedly old manner of preparation was favored actually because it removed (or, at least, toned down) musky, "wild" flavors. Perhaps a flavor that is exotic and interesting to my modern tastebuds wasn't nearly as "exotic and interesting" to people much more accustomed to eating game.

Any ideas?

Do you think the beef stock masked the game flavor?

I'm kind of leaning in that direction, Joe.

Which frankly disappoints me. I mean, how often do you ruin a dish by using too nice of a product? This was great, concentrated beef broth, made without any seasoning other than lots of beef, bones and a very limited amount of onions, celery and carrots (i.e., no herbs or pepper).

But, I'm guessing you're right - too much beef.

Oh well, it still made for a good dinner and I suppose I've learned a lesson...

Bridgestone wrote:I'm now thinking that tomatoes probably would have helped this out and made it more saucy regardless of "authenticity" (which probably was misguided from the beginning?). How else would one thicken the pan juices? Cream can't be right... Beurre manié too French... Agar agar (just joking!)?

Actually, I don't think cream is that far off. I've used milk and white wine (equal parts) and a little tomato in a couple recent ragu attempts. The milk and wine loosen it up a bit (saucier), but help it retain the richness that you want.

And if you ever publish a cookbook, I think you should put that first photo on the cover. It made me think, "I can't wait to see what these ingredients turn into."

Best,
Michael

Thanks Michael!

Yeah, thinking back, I'm not sure why I didn't just treat the hare meat as the ground beef that I normally use in a Bolognese meat sauce. I use milk, wine and (a little) tomato in that and I surely would have had a more recongnizable, "saucy" sauce.

I mean, as long as it didn't end up tasting of game, why not?

Oh well!

I've looked up a few traditional rabbit ragu recipes and most of them use dry red wine, chicken or veal stock, and canned tomatoes with their juice as the sole liquid source.

Best,
Michael

If you're looking for more, there are about a half dozen recipes for rabbit or hare in The Joy of Cooking. Right before the diagram of how to skin a squirrel, and recipes for squirrel, opossum, porcupine, and raccoon.

Oh wait, there's more. Muskrat, woodchuck, beaver, armadillo. This is a fascinating chapter.

I'd suggest two possibilities: discard the marinade and make your sugo after the hare is browned nicely with some stock and a tablespoon or so of flour. Alternatively, there would be nothing wrong with a hint of garlic and tomato. You could include a clove of garlic or two in the saute and make the sugo with some tomato (a couple cups, perhaps). You will find sugo di lepre made just this way in Tuscany.

Another idea: I'd use the front half of the hare for the sugo and save the back for a roast or to make an umido with porcini.

And, finally, where does "leftover guanciale fat" come from? You're not making amatriciana lite, are you?

Ouch - got me there, Choey...

Not amatriciana, though, but carbonara.

As wonderful as the guanciale I get is, it's normally over 70% (luscious, wonderful, heady, aged and spiced) fat and I end up pouring off some of it.

I blame this irrational behavior firmly on a few misspent post-adolecent evenings watching Baywatch reruns.

(Thanks for your tips, Choey. Now I know what I'll do if I ever decide to go a second round with wild hare.)

I reject any attempt to apply Hasselhoffian standards to my meal planning (Or to any other part of my existence, for that matter. Though I would like a talking car that drove itself.). I do appreciate, however, and if only vicariously, your concession to "healthy living." My wife, a berserker manqué, cannot accept the pools of pork fat in Roman cuisine and urges me to tone down the guanciale whenever she sees me hoist a slab from the larder. Yet, she will mow through a tray of Smørrebrød and a brick of havarti, washed down with a couple Carlsbergs and a healing aquavit, without even once contemplating her aorta. I suspect Culture is to blame.

Reading this thread title, only one thing went through my mind, having nothing to do with cooking, Italian, Swedish or otherwise:

Hare Ragu / Ragu Ragu / Ragu Hare / Hare Hare

No, No and No!

This should be the new tagline.

JoelF wrote:Hare Ragu / Ragu Ragu / Ragu Hare / Hare Hare