Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Stuffed Rabbit
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the stuffing
Mix together bread crumbs, parsley, powdered herbs, suet, lemon rind, egg, salt, and pepper.
If the mixture is too dry, add a little milk.
Stuff and cook
Stuff the well-cleaned rabbit with the mixture and sew it up.
Boil gently for 45 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the rabbit's age.
Serve
Serve with 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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Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb moisture and bind the stuffing so it holds together and stays tender.
- Egg
- Binds the stuffing ingredients together as it sets during cooking.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the stuffing moist and rich as it cooks.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, lemon, egg, pepper, milk):
- Parsleythe original
- Marjoramfits about as well
- Nutmegfits less well
- Thymefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, lemon, egg, pepper, milk. 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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