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Rabbit Pie

A savory pie with rabbit joints, liver, bacon, oysters, herbs, and pickled pork, baked in a crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Rabbit Pie

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 the rabbit

  1. Soak the rabbit joints in lukewarm salted water to cleanse them, then dry with a clean cloth.

  2. Dust the rabbit with flour and season with cayenne and salt, then arrange in a pie dish.

Make the balls

  1. Parboil the livers, then mash with bacon, oysters, herbs, parsley, flour, breadcrumbs, and egg to form small balls.

Assemble and bake

  1. Distribute the balls and diced artichoke bottoms in the dish with the rabbit.

  2. Cut the pickled pork into small pieces and add to the dish.

  3. Grate nutmeg over the mixture, then add port wine and water.

  4. Cover with a thick pie crust and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 1.5 hours, covering with buttered paper to prevent over-browning.

  5. For better flavor, marinate the rabbit with nutmeg and wine overnight before cooking.

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 + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Rabbit + porktop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together832 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Liver + porktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,606 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).

  4. Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Oyster + porktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,255 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

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, moist bake.
Livers
Form a rich, soft filling that adds depth and moisture to the pie.
Fat bacon
Adds fat that keeps the mashed balls moist and richly flavored.
Egg
Binds the liver mixture so the small balls hold their shape.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb moisture and help the liver mixture hold together.
Port wine
Adds sweetness and aroma and moistens the filling as it cooks.

The step that matters

Covering with buttered paper. Without a cover, the thick crust and the pie's surface can brown too much before the filling cooks through. Buttered paper shields the crust while heat keeps working inside.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, flour, pepper, liver, oyster, egg, pork):

  1. Sagefits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Nutmegfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, flour, pepper, liver, oyster, egg, pork. 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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