Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
To Stew Rabbits
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the rabbit
Soak the trussed rabbits in warm water for 15 minutes.
Place them in a pot with plenty of water and salt, and stew slowly for about 1 hour until tender.
Remove the rabbits' heads.
Make the onion sauce
Peel and boil the onions in a saucepan until tender.
Drain and slice the onions.
In a separate pan, melt the butter with the flour and milk, stirring until it simmers.
Add the sliced onions to the butter sauce and bring to a boil.
Serve
Place the rabbits on a large dish.
Cover the rabbits with the onion sauce.
Sprinkle grated nutmeg over the rabbits if desired.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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).
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Rabbit + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,067 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rabbits
- Provide the tender meat that is slowly stewed until soft.
- Onions
- Add sweetness and soft body to the sauce when boiled until tender.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, carrying flavour in the sauce.
- All-purpose flour
- Thickens the butter and milk into a smooth, cohesive sauce.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce, adding creaminess and body.
The step that matters
Bringing the butter sauce to a boil after adding the onions. Flour thickens liquid only when it is heated enough for starch granules to swell. Stirring while the sauce simmers prevents lumps and scorching on the pan base, which would leave the sauce grainy or thin.
Swap the nutmeg
The recipe marks nutmeg as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, onion, butter, flour, milk):
- Garlicfits about as well
- Capersfits about as well
- Nutmegthe original
- Thymefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, onion, butter, flour, milk. 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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