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Rabbit Pie, Plain

A pie of rabbit and bacon with spices, stock, and pastry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Rabbit Pie, Plain

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. Skin, empty, and wash the rabbit, then cut it into 10-12 neat joints.

  2. If using the head, split it in half and soak with the other pieces in lukewarm water for 30 minutes.

  3. Drain and dry the rabbit, placing it in a large pie dish with inferior joints at the bottom and bacon slices on top.

  4. Mix salt, white pepper, and powdered mace.

  5. Sprinkle the mixture over the rabbit. Add minced onion if desired.

  6. Optionally layer thinly sliced potatoes at the bottom before adding the rabbit.

Bake and serve

  1. Barely cover the rabbit with cold stock or water, then cover the dish with a plate and bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until three-quarters cooked.

  2. Let the dish cool, cover with pastry, decorate, and make a hole in the center.

  3. Brush the crust with egg and bake in a well-heated oven until the pastry is golden.

  4. Serve hot or cold.

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. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. White pepper + macetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,695 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  3. Rabbit + oniontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,292 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Mace + oniontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,078 recipes

    Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).

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

What each ingredient does

Rabbit
Forms the main body of the pie, becoming tender during the slow initial cooking in liquid.
Fat bacon
Bastes the rabbit as it cooks, adding fat, moisture, and savory flavor.
Egg
Brushed on the crust, it promotes browning and a glossy golden finish.
Pastry
Encloses the filling and holds in moisture while the pie finishes cooking.

The step that matters

Brushing the crust and baking in a well-heated oven. A hot oven sets and browns the pastry quickly, so the crust turns golden before the filling overcooks. A cool oven makes the pastry pale and soggy.

Swap the onion

The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, white pepper, mace, egg, potato):

  1. Asparagusfits about as well
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Chivefits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, white pepper, mace, egg, potato. 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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