Jugging

In cooking, jugging is the process of stewing meat (usually whole animals, mainly game, or fish) for a long time in a tightly covered container, such as a casserole or an earthenware jug. Sometimes the cooking liquid includes some of the animal's blood. In French, such a stew of a game animal, thickened with the animal's blood, is known as a civet. [cite web|url=http://www.foodreference.com/html/tjugjugged.html|title=jugged|work=Kitchen & Cooking Tips|date=|author=James T. Ehler|publisher=FoodReference.com] [cite web|url=http://www.patriciawells.com/glossary/atoz/c.htm|work=At Home With Patricia Wells|title=French–English food glossary|publisher=Patricia Wells, Ltd.]

One common traditional dish that involves jugging is Jugged Hare (known as civet de lièvre in France), which is a whole hare, cut into pieces, marinated and cooked with red wine and juniper berries in a tall jug that stands in a pan of water. It traditionally is served with the hare's blood (or the blood is added right at the very end of the cooking process) and Port wine. [cite web|url=http://www.kal69.dial.pipex.com/shop/pages/glossj.htm|author=Tom Jaine|work=THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH COOKERY|title=A GLOSSARY OF COOKERY AND OTHER TERMS|publisher=Prospect Books] cite news|title=Chips are down for Britain's old culinary classics|work=The Guardian|date=2006-07-25|pages=6|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2006/07/25/2003320323] [cite web|url=http://www.greatbritishkitchen.co.uk/gl_j.htm|title=Jugged|work=The Great British Kitchen|publisher=The British Food Trust] [cite web|url=http://www.greatbritishkitchen.co.uk/recipes_result.asp?name=juggedhare|title=Recipes: Game: Jugged Hare|work=The Great British Kitchen|publisher=The British Food Trust]

Jugged Hare is described in the influential 18th century cookbook, "The Art of Cookery" by Hannah Glasse, with a recipe titled, "A Jugged Hare," that begins, "Cut it into little pieces, lard them here and there...." The recipe goes on to describe cooking the pieces of hare in water in a jug that it set within a bath of boiling water to cook for three hours. [Glasse, Hannah. The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy. London, 1747. page 50] Beginning in the nineteenth century, Glasse has been widely credited with having started the recipe with the words "First, catch your hare," as in this citation. This attribution is apocryphal.

However, having a freshly caught, or shot, hare enables one to obtain its blood. A freshly killed hare is prepared for jugging by removing its entrails and then hanging it in a larder by its hind legs, which causes the blood to accumulate in the chest cavity. One method of preserving the blood after draining it from the hare (since the hare itself is usually hung for a week or more) is to mix it with red wine vinegar in order to prevent it coagulating, and then to store it in a freezer. [cite web|title=HARES, Brown, Blue or White.|author=Bill Deans|url=http://website.lineone.net/~bill.deans/hare.htm] [cite journal|journal=Mother Earth News|issue=41|date=September/October 1976|title=Farming for Self-Sufficiency Independence on a convert|5|acre|m2|sing=on Farm|author=John and Sally Seymour|url=http://www.motherearthnews.com/Livestock_and_Farming/1976_September_October/Farming_For_Self_Sufficiency_Independence_on_a_5_acre_farm]

Many other British cookbooks from before the middle of the 20th century have recipes for Jugged Hare. Merle and Reitch [cite book|title=The domestic dictionary and housekeeper's manual|author=Gibbons Merle and John Reitch|location=London|publisher=William Strange|date=1842|pages=113] have this to say about Jugged Hare, for example::The best part of the hare, when roasted, is the loin and the thick part of the hind leg; the other parts are only fit for stewing, hashing, or jugging. It is usual to roast a hare first, and to stew or jug the portion which is not eaten the first day. [...] :"To Jug A Hare." This mode of cooking a hare is very desirable when there is any doubt as to its age, as an old hare, which would be otherwise uneatable, may be made into an agreeable dish. [...]

In 2006, a survey of 2021 people for the television channel UKTV Food found that only 1.6% of the people aged under 25 recognized Jugged Hare by name. 7 out of 10 of those people stated that they would refuse to eat Jugged Hare if it was served at the house of a friend or a relative. [cite news|title=Bygone food quiz reveals pig ignorance among young|work=The Scotsman|date=2006-07-24|url=http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=1072282006] [cite news|title=Young diners lose taste for traditional British dishes|work=The Independent|date=2006-07-24|author=Martin Hickman|url=http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/food_and_drink/news/article1193098.ece]

Jugged Rabbit (civet de lapin) is an alternative to Jugged Hare. It is considered a speciality of the cuisine of Martinique. [cite news|work=The Independent|title=It's a bunny old world|author=John Walsh|date=2003-04-18|url=http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_m_z/john_walsh/article115587.ece] [cite web|url=http://www.insightguides.com/insight/iguides_results.asp?sf_01=name;eq&st_01=Martinique&sp_01=AND&mw=1&m=12&pl=1&dc=19&sort=sectionsort&TAG=&CID=|title=Martinique: What to Eat|work=Insight Guides]

Another jugged dish, also traditional in the United Kingdom, is Jugged Kippers, which is kippers (with the heads and tails removed) in a covered jug, cooked in boiling water. Recipe books recommend jugging kippers as one way of avoiding the strong smell that kippers have. [cite web|url=http://www.fatbadgers.co.uk/Britain/food.htm#J|title=Food: Jugged Kippers|work=Fat Badgers Guide to Quality Inns, Pubs, Restaurants and Hotels in the United Kingdom|author=The Fat Badgers] [cite book|title=The Kitchen Hand: A Miscellany of Kitchen Wisdom|author=Anthony Telford|date=2004|publisher=Allen & Unwin|id=ISBN 1865088900|pages=120]

In Louisiana, a fishing technique involving a plastic soda bottle as a bob is also called jugging. [ [http://www.metacafe.com/watch/761864/girl_catches_big_fish/ Girl Catches Big Fish] ]

References

Further reading

* — Mrs Beeton's recipe for Jugged Hare
* — another detailed recipe, with alternatives
* — Bishop's recipe includes a note that "in some parts of the country" the hare is cooked in ale with bacon.
* — a recipe for Jugged Steak
* — a modern French recipe for civet de lièvre, using a pressure cooker