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To Roast Rabbits

Rabbits stuffed with a bread, herb, egg and butter stuffing, then roasted and served with parsley butter sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

To Roast Rabbits

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Prepare the rabbits by casing them.

  2. Skewer their heads with their mouths on their backs.

  3. Stick their fore-legs into their ribs.

  4. Skewer the hind-legs doubled.

Stuff and roast

  1. Make a stuffing with the bread crumbs, parsley, marjoram, thyme, nutmeg, salt, pepper, butter, cream, and eggs.

  2. Stuff the rabbits with the mixture.

  3. Sew them up.

  4. Dredge and baste the rabbits well with lard.

  5. Roast the rabbits in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 1 hour.

Serve

  1. Chop the livers to place around the edge of the dish.

  2. Serve with parsley and butter sauce.

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. Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Marjoram + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together687 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Rabbits
Provide the main meat, which cooks through during roasting inside the stuffed shape.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the butter, cream and eggs to form a moist stuffing that stays tender.
Eggs
Bind the stuffing so it holds together when sliced after roasting.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the stuffing and the sauce.
Cream
Adds moisture and softness to the stuffing.
Lard
Coats the outside to promote browning and keep the surface from drying.

The step that matters

Sew the rabbits closed after stuffing. If the opening is loose, the stuffing can escape and dry out during roasting. Sewing keeps the filling moist and inside the meat while it cooks.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, bread, parsley, marjoram, thyme, pepper, butter):

  1. Winter savoryfits better
  2. Sagefits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, bread, parsley, marjoram, thyme, pepper, butter. 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.

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