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Hare, Forcemeat for

A forcemeat made from hare liver, bread crumbs, herbs, butter, and egg yolks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Hare, Forcemeat for

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the liver

  1. If the hare liver is sound, boil it gently for 6 minutes.

  2. Mince the liver finely.

Make the forcemeat

  1. In a bowl, mix the minced liver with bread crumbs, lemon rind, parsley, thyme, marjoram, salt, pepper, cayenne, and nutmeg, and thoroughly combine the dry ingredients.

  2. Work in the butter and egg yolks until well mixed.

  3. Ensure all ingredients are fresh to avoid unpleasant flavors.

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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Lemon + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together957 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Hare liver
Provides the meaty body and rich flavour that the forcemeat is built around.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and give the forcemeat a light, binding body.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, moist texture.
Egg yolks
Bind the mixture together and add richness to the texture.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, bread, lemon, parsley, thyme, marjoram, pepper):

  1. Sagefits better
  2. Winter savoryfits better
  3. Basilfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against liver, bread, lemon, parsley, thyme, marjoram, 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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