Why it works: Rabbit and pork work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 832 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Jugged Rabbits
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the rabbits
Skin and clean the rabbits carefully, then joint them as for fricassee.
Layer thin slices of fat salt pork in the bottom of a stoneware jar.
Jar-cook the rabbits
Add pieces of rabbit, then sprinkle with minced onion and parsley.
Continue layering with more pork and rabbit.
Pour in 1 cup of soup or gravy.
Cover the jar tightly and place it in a pot of warm water.
Tie a piece of thick paper over the top of the jar to trap steam.
Cook steadily for 2 hours, or longer if the meat is not tender.
Make the sauce and serve
Once done, remove the meat and strain the gravy into a saucepan.
Set the gravy in cold water to separate the fat, then skim it off.
Add a little currant jelly, 2 tablespoons of browned flour mixed with water, and ⅓ cup of claret to the gravy.
Boil for 1 minute and pour over the meat.
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.
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Rabbit + porktop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together832 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,214 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Rabbit + oniontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,292 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rabbits
- Provides the lean meat that becomes tender during slow, moist cooking.
- Fat salt pork
- Bastes the rabbit with fat and adds savoury flavour as it melts.
- Soup or gravy
- Supplies liquid that steams the meat and forms the base of the sauce.
- Browned flour
- Thickens the strained gravy and adds a toasted, roasted flavour.
- Currant jelly
- Adds sweetness and a fruity acidity that balances the rich gravy.
- Claret
- Adds acidity and wine flavour to the finished sauce.
The step that matters
Cook steadily in a sealed jar. Gentle, steady heat under a tight cover lets the connective tissue soften slowly. Too much heat or a loose seal dries the meat and makes it tough.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, pork, onion, parsley, flour):
- Avocadofits better
- Lemonfits better
- Limefits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, pork, onion, parsley, flour. 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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