Why it works: Onion and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 25,843 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Boiled Rabbit
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Choose a young rabbit with smooth claws and wash it well in cold water.
Soak the rabbit in warm water for about 30 minutes to draw out the blood.
Fasten the head to the side of the body with a skewer.
Cook and serve
Place the rabbit in enough hot water to cover it and boil gently until tender, about 30 to 60 minutes.
Serve with your choice of sauce: onions, mushroom, liver sauce, or parsley and butter.
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.
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Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Rabbit + oniontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,292 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Rabbit + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,448 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
- Is the main protein; boiling slowly until tender breaks down its connective tissue.
The step that matters
Boil gently until tender. Rapid boiling toughens meat proteins and can break the rabbit apart, while gentle simmering lets connective tissue soften slowly for a tender result.
Swap the onion
The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, parsley, butter):
- Shallotfits better
- Potatofits better
- Chivefits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, parsley, 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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