Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
White Stew of Rabbit
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the rabbit
Clean the rabbit, removing the eyes, liver, kidneys, heart, and lungs.
Soak the head and flaps in water until free from blood.
Add the head and flaps to the stock pot.
Wash the rabbit. Soak the rabbit in warm or salted water for 45 minutes.
Cut the rabbit into neat joints.
Make the stock
Bring the stock or water to a boil.
Add the onion and seasoning.
Add the rabbit and a pinch of salt. Boil for 2 minutes.
Simmer gently for 1.5 hours.
Remove the rabbit joints.
Let the stock settle. Pour off the clear liquid.
Make the white sauce and serve
Take 1 cup of the clear liquid and mix it with 1 pint of milk.
Melt the dripping in a pan. Add the flour. Gradually stir in the liquid until boiling.
Cook thoroughly. Add seasoning.
Add the rabbit joints.
Serve hot, pouring the white sauce over the rabbit. Garnish with curled or fried bacon, or fried bread.
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.
-
Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Rabbit + oniontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,292 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
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 is simmered until tender in the stock.
- Flour
- Thickens the liquid into a smooth white sauce when cooked with the fat.
- Milk
- Forms the creamy base of the white sauce, adding richness and body.
- Dripping
- Fat that is melted and combined with flour to start the roux for the sauce.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the dish.
The step that matters
Cook the flour and fat before adding the liquid. Stirring the liquid gradually into the melted fat and flour, then bringing it to a boil, keeps the sauce smooth and lets the flour thicken fully. Adding liquid too fast or skipping the cooking leaves lumps and a raw floury taste.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, lemon, flour, milk, butter, pepper):
- Shallotfits better
- Arrowrootfits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, lemon, flour, milk, butter, 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.
You might also like
Lemon Sauce236 recipes
Rabbit Patties6 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.