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Rabbits to Fricassee

A rabbit fricassee made with cream, egg yolks, oyster sauce, lemon pickle, anchovy essence, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Sauce and anchovy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Rabbits to Fricassee

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and stew

  1. Parboil the rabbit joints and remove the skin.

  2. Stew the rabbit in gravy made from knuckle of veal, lean ham, and the herbs and spices.

  3. When the meat is tender, thicken the gravy with the egg yolks mixed into the cream.

Finish and serve

  1. Gradually stir in the oyster sauce, lemon pickle, and essence of anchovy.

  2. Serve hot, garnished with lemon slices and pickled barberries.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Sauce + anchovytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Oyster + anchovytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together603 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Egg + anchovytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,330 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Rabbit
Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender through slow stewing.
Egg yolks
Thicken the gravy as they set gently with heat, giving it a smooth, rich body.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture, softening the texture of the thickened gravy.
Oyster sauce
Adds savoury depth and umami to the finished gravy.

The step that matters

Thickening the gravy with egg yolks and cream. Egg yolks set when heated, but if the gravy is too hot when they go in, they can scramble and turn grainy. Stirring gradually and keeping the heat gentle keeps the sauce smooth.

“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.

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