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
Prepare
Melt the butter in a stewpan over medium heat.
Peel and finely chop the onions.
Prepare the rabbit by skinning and washing it, then dry it with a cloth.
Cut the rabbit into equal-sized pieces.
If using veal, cut it into equal-sized pieces as well.
Peel and core the apple, then chop it finely.
Fry and simmer
Add the chopped onions to the melted butter and fry until light brown, being careful not to burn them.
Strain the fried onions from the butter and return the butter to the stewpan.
Add the pieces of meat to the stewpan and fry over high heat for 10 minutes, turning occasionally.
Once the meat is fried, add the curry powder and salt, stirring well for 5 minutes.
Add the fried onions, chopped apple, and stock to the stewpan.
Move the stewpan to a cooler part of the stove and let it simmer gently for 2 hours.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Rabbit + creamtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together409 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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Rabbit + oniontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,292 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,551 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + appletop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rabbit
- Provides the main meat, which becomes tender during the long gentle simmer.
- Butter
- Fries the onions and meat, adding richness and helping them brown.
- Onions
- Soften and brown in butter, adding sweetness and body to the sauce.
- Curry powder
- Supplies the spice flavour, which deepens when stirred into the hot fried meat.
- Apple
- Adds mild sweetness and fruitiness that balances the sharpness of the curry spices.
- Stock
- Forms the liquid that cooks the meat and builds the sauce during the simmer.
The step that matters
Frying the onions without burning them. Onions that burn turn bitter and dark, and that bitterness carries into the whole curry. Light browning gives sweetness and depth, so keep the heat moderate and watch them closely.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, butter, onion, cream, lemon):
- Coconutfits better
- Avocadofits better
- Limefits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, butter, onion, cream, lemon. 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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