Why it works: Rabbit and meat work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 315 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓
Turban of Fillets of Rabbits, a LA Financiere
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Trim and lard the rabbit fillets closely.
Prepare quenelle force-meat with the flesh of the rabbit legs.
Form a cylindrical foundation with part of the force-meat and let it cool.
Trim the top of the cooled cylinder and spread a thin layer of force-meat on it.
Assemble and bake
Arrange the larded fillets around the sides at a slant, with the small ends turned over at the top.
Insert cock's kernels between each fillet into the force-meat coating and cover with bacon strips.
Wrap the turban with a buttered band of paper and secure it with string.
Bake in a 350 °F (175 °C) oven for 1 hour.
Finish and serve
Remove the paper and bacon, glaze the fillets, and fill the center with Financière ragout.
Pour some ragout around the base and serve.
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 + meattop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together315 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
-
Rabbit + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,448 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,594 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rabbit fillets
- Provide the lean, tender meat that forms the visible outer turban.
- Quenelle force-meat
- Forms a cohesive base and coating that holds the turban together and keeps the meat moist.
- Fat bacon strips
- Baste the meat with fat during baking, keeping the lean rabbit moist and tender.
- Butter
- Enriches the buttered paper band, adding richness and helping the paper release cleanly.
The step that matters
Trim the top of the cooled cylinder before spreading force-meat. Force-meat must be cool and firm before it is trimmed and coated; warm or soft force-meat tears and slumps, so the thin layer will not hold an even surface.
“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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