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Curried Rabbit

A rabbit stew flavored with curry powder, lard, butter, stock, and cream, served over boiled rice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Curried Rabbit

Ingredients

Directions

Brown the rabbit

  1. Slice the onion and brown it in the lard.

  2. Add the butter to the pan.

  3. Quickly brown the rabbit pieces after rolling them in flour.

  4. Transfer the browned rabbit to a stewpan with the onion.

Simmer in the curry sauce

  1. Mix the curry powder into the butter.

  2. Add the stock.

  3. Stir.

  4. Pour over the rabbit.

  5. Skim when boiling.

  6. Simmer slowly for 1.5 hours.

  7. Add the cream just before serving.

Serve

  1. Serve with boiled rice.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Rabbit + creamtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together409 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  4. Rabbit + oniontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,292 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 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
Provides the meat that becomes tender during slow simmering.
Onion
Browning in lard builds sweetness and savory depth in the sauce.
Butter
Carries the curry powder and adds richness to the sauce.
Curry powder
Supplies the spiced aroma and flavor that defines the dish.
Stock
Forms the liquid that gently cooks the rabbit and becomes the sauce.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, mellow body to the finished sauce.

The step that matters

Simmer slowly. Gentle simmering keeps the rabbit meat tender and prevents the sauce from reducing or breaking. Rapid boiling toughens meat proteins and can make the sauce greasy or cloudy.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, butter, cream, pepper):

  1. Potatofits about as well
  2. Onionthe original
  3. Spinachfits about as well
  4. Asparagusfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, butter, cream, pepper. 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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