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Rabbit, Fricasseed, Brown

A rabbit fricassee cooked in butter and lard with onions, flour, stock, herbs, and claret or port.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Rabbit, Fricasseed, Brown

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a saucepan, melt the butter and lard.

  2. Fry the rabbit pieces in the fat until browned, then set aside.

  3. Fry the minced onions in the same fat until brown, then add to the rabbit.

Make the gravy

  1. Stir in the flour and mix until smooth and brown.

  2. Gradually moisten with stock or water until the gravy is thick like cream.

  3. Add parsley, thyme, bay leaves, salt, pepper, and garlic if desired.

Simmer and serve

  1. Return the rabbit to the pan and simmer until cooked through.

  2. Before serving, stir in the claret or port.

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Thyme + clovetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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 as it simmers in the gravy.
Flour
Thickens the gravy and, when browned with the fat, adds color and nutty flavor.
Butter and lard
Fat for browning the rabbit and onions, carrying flavor and helping form a rich base.
Onions
Soften and brown in the fat, adding sweetness and savory depth to the gravy.
Claret or port
Adds wine acidity and fruity depth to the finished sauce.

The step that matters

Browning the flour in the fat. Cooking flour in fat until it turns brown develops color and toasted flavor before liquid is added. Adding stock too early leaves the gravy pale and floury tasting, and lumps form if it is not stirred smooth.

Swap the clove

The recipe marks clove as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, butter, onion, flour, parsley, thyme, pepper):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Winter savoryfits better
  3. Sagefits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, butter, onion, flour, parsley, thyme, 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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