There the similarity ends, for Venison is virtually fat-free, and, to ensure tenderness, it should be larded, and to release the magnificent flavours, marinating for 12 to 24 hours is recommended. Hare is with us until well into March, the season having started in August. Well known quality indicators, tender, easily torn ears and short, easily broken claws, the barely defined cleft in the lips, are all easily seen. Hare is at its best at around seven to eight months old with a weight of around the low twenty-odd kilos. Old Hares are best used in Terrines, Game pies, P t , and as an ingredient for Game Soup, not forgetting the classic Jugged Hare.
Leverets additionally lend themselves to roasting and saut ing.
Wild Rabbits, which have the same seasonal period, are prime between three to four months old, smaller than their hutch-bred brethren and more flavoursome and tender. The Middle Neck and Neck, together with Shoulder, should only go for Stews or, in the case of Hare, for Jugged Hare. The writer, in December last, came across a very tasty Rabbit Brawn served in a Norwich restaurant which, happily, had the imagination and knowledge to resurrect such a delicious, novel and, almost certainly, profitable starter. The same will apply to Brill, Whiting, Turbot and Plaice. Scallops are at their best, plump, succulent and as white as the driven snow.