Why it works: Pork and beef match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,690 recipes. Both carry 12-methyltridecanal, which smells tallowy, beefy. The science ↓
Rabbit Pie
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
Make the pie crust using flour and clarified dripping as you would for veal and ham pie.
Wash the rabbit in cold water and dry it.
Cut the rabbit into neat, equal-sized pieces.
Slice the bacon or salt pork.
Cut the beef steak into small pieces.
Assemble and bake
In a pie dish, layer the rabbit, bacon, and beef.
Sprinkle with parsley, salt, and pepper.
Add cold water or stock.
Cover the pie.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 1.5 to 2 hours, depending on the age of the rabbit.
Check occasionally to prevent burning; it should turn a pale brown.
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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Pork + beeftop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,690 recipes
Shared aroma: 12-methyltridecanal (tallowy, beefy).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Rabbit + porktop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together832 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Rabbit + beeftop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together252 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rabbit
- Provides the main meat, which becomes tender during the long, covered bake.
- Bacon or salt pork
- Adds fat and savory flavor that bastes the rabbit as it cooks.
- Beef steak
- Adds more meat and savory depth to the filling.
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the pie crust once baked.
- Clarified dripping
- Adds fat to the crust, making it tender and helping it brown.
The step that matters
Checking the bake to prevent burning. The pie is baked covered for a long time, and sugars and proteins on the crust brown quickly at high heat. Checking occasionally catches over-browning before it turns bitter, while the filling is still cooking through.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, pork, beef, pepper, flour, butter):
- Thymefits about as well
- Sagefits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Marjoramfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, pork, beef, pepper, flour, butter. 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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