Why it works: Coconut and raisin work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 183 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Rabbit Curry
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
In an earthen crock, place a thin slice of bacon.
Add a layer of rabbit pieces, sprinkle with curry powder, salt, grated coconut, and raisins.
Repeat layering until all rabbit is used, seasoning each layer.
Moisten the mixture with wine and let it stand for 24 hours.
Cook and serve
Place the crock in a pot of water and simmer for 2 hours, keeping it covered.
Serve on a flat dish with rice on the side.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
-
Coconut + raisintop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together183 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Rabbit + coconuttop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Rabbit + raisintop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Raisin + winetop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,324 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Coconut + winetop 27% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together159 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rabbits
- Provides the meat that becomes tender during the long, gentle simmer.
- Bacon
- Adds fat and savory flavor that seasons the layers as it melts.
- Fresh grated coconut
- Adds richness, moisture, and a subtle sweetness to the sauce.
- Raisins
- Add sweetness and soft, plump bites that balance the curry spice.
- Wine
- Moistens the mixture and adds acidity that helps flavors meld during standing.
The step that matters
Keeping the crock covered while simmering. Covering the crock traps moisture so the rabbit cooks gently in its own juices rather than drying out. Gentle simmering in a water bath keeps the meat tender instead of tough.
Swap the coconut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, raisin, wine):
- Lemonfits better
- Applefits better
- Currantfits better
- Coconutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, raisin, wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
More rabbit curry recipes
You might also like
Rabbit Patties6 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.