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Rabbit, Baked

A baked rabbit served with bacon and gravy, accompanied by mashed potatoes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Rabbit, Baked

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Skin, draw, and wash the rabbit thoroughly, then soak it in milk and water for 1-2 hours.

  2. Drain the rabbit and cut it into small, neat joints.

  3. Lightly pepper the joints and place them in a single layer in a baking tin.

  4. Cover each piece with a slice of bacon.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until cooked through, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

  2. Arrange the rabbit and bacon alternately in a circle on a hot dish.

  3. Pour the gravy from the baking tin over the rabbit and serve hot with mashed potatoes.

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. Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Milk + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  3. Rabbit + potatotop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together58 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Rabbit + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together284 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Rabbit + peppertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,334 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-pentylpyridine (fat).

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

What each ingredient does

Rabbit
Provides the lean meat that becomes tender and firm as it cooks through.
Bacon
Adds fat that bastes the rabbit and browns as it bakes, adding savory flavor.
Milk
Soaking in milk helps mellow the flavor and keep the rabbit moist.

The step that matters

Bake until cooked through. Rabbit is lean and dries out quickly, so it should be baked only until cooked through, checking near the lower end of the time range to keep it moist.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, milk, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Potatothe original
  3. Asparagusfits less well
  4. Carrotfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, milk, 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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