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Hare, Baked, with Truffles

A hare stuffed with a farce of pickled pork, veal, shallot, and truffles, baked and served with Espagnole sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Truffle and veal work together. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 815 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Hare, Baked, with Truffles

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the stuffing

  1. Prepare the hare as directed in Notes on Trussing.

  2. Pound the farce until smooth.

  3. Mix in a little good stock and truffle liquor if using bottled truffles.

  4. Pass the farce through a wire sieve.

  5. Season the farce.

  6. Set aside a spoonful of farce for later.

Stuff and roast

  1. Stuff the body of the hare with the remaining farce.

  2. Sew up the opening to shape the hare.

  3. Cover the hare with greased paper.

  4. Baste the hare well with hot fat.

  5. Roast the hare in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 1 to 1½ hours, basting frequently.

Finish the sauce

  1. Add the remaining truffle to the Espagnole sauce before serving.

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. Truffle + vealtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together815 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  2. Truffle + porktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethylphenol (must).

  3. Pork + vealtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,930 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  4. Shallot + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,898 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Shallot + saucetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,303 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Truffles
Add a rich, earthy aroma that flavours the farce and the sauce.
Pickled pork
Adds fat and savoury depth, keeping the farce moist during roasting.
Veal
Forms the body of the farce, giving it a tender, binding texture.
Espagnole sauce
Provides a rich, glossy brown sauce to serve with the roasted hare.

The step that matters

Basting the hare. Hare is lean, so without frequent basting with hot fat the surface can dry and toughen. Regular basting adds moisture and helps the surface brown evenly.

Swap the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (truffle, pork, veal, sherry, pepper, sauce):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits better
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Shallotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against truffle, pork, veal, sherry, pepper, sauce. 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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