Why it works: Rabbit and ham work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 273 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Rabbit Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Cut the rabbit and ham into small pieces and the eggs into quarters.
Dip the rabbit pieces in flour seasoned with salt and pepper.
Fry
Fry the rabbit pieces in butter or dripping until browned.
Assemble and bake
Place the rabbit, ham, forcemeat balls, and hard-boiled eggs in a pie dish.
Add enough stock to fill the dish halfway.
Cover with pastry and bake at 350°F (175°C) for two 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.
-
Rabbit + hamtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together273 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Rabbit + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,448 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Ham + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,475 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
-
Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,526 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 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 main meat, which becomes tender during the long covered bake.
- Ham
- Adds salty, savoury flavour to the filling.
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Add richness and body to the filling.
- Pastry
- Forms a crisp, browned crust that encloses the filling.
- Stock
- Supplies moisture and savoury flavour as the filling cooks.
The step that matters
Browning the rabbit before assembling. Rabbit is very lean, so it can dry out easily. Frying until browned builds flavour through the Maillard reaction, and the rabbit then finishes gently in the stock inside the pie.
“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
Rabbit Patties6 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 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.