Why it works: Onion and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 25,843 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
A Jugged Hare
Ingredients
Directions
Make the stock
Place the bones of the hare in a soup pot with the ham, onions, parsley, mace, stock, and port wine.
Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 hours, then strain the liquid.
Prepare the hare
Blanch the hare in cold water until it boils, then wash it in several waters.
Cut the legs into two pieces and separate the shoulder from the back.
Split the back down the middle and cut each half into three pieces.
Cook and serve
Place the hare pieces in a small soup pot with the strained liquid.
Add the ham pieces and cover the meat with paper and the pot lid.
Place the pot in a stew pan filled with water, ensuring the water comes up three-quarters of the pot.
Bring to a boil and simmer for 3 hours or until the hare is tender, adding more boiling water as needed.
Serve the hare in the center of a deep dish with the ham around the sides, skimming the fat from the liquid before pouring it over the hare.
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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Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Parsley + macetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,268 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Mace + port winetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together695 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Onion + macetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,078 recipes
Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).
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Ham + oniontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,159 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Hare
- Provides the main meat, which becomes tender through long, gentle simmering.
- Onions
- Break down during simmering to add sweetness and body to the stock.
- Port wine
- Adds depth, sweetness and aroma to the cooking liquid.
- Lean ham
- Adds savoury flavour to the stock and the dish.
The step that matters
Simmering the hare gently in a water bath. Keeping the liquid at a gentle simmer, not a rolling boil, lets the meat become tender without toughening or drying. The outer pot in a water bath moderates the heat, and topping up with boiling water keeps the level steady over the 3 hours.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, onion, parsley, port wine):
- Thymefits better
- Marjoramfits better
- Celeryfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against ham, onion, parsley, port wine. 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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