Name: Rabbit, a LA Chasseur
Ingredients: 1 rabbit, cut into small joints; 2 ounces clarified butter; pepper, to taste; coarse sea salt, to taste; 1 tablespoon chopped fine herbs (mushrooms, truffle, parsley, and shallot); 1 large gravy spoonful Espagnole sauce; scallops of mushrooms and truffles; 2 dozen small quenelles of rabbit; a small piece of glaze; a little nutmeg; juice of ½ lemon; croutons of fried bread

Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

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.

Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,737 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Mushroom + shallottop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,982 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Mushroom + truffletop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,900 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,525 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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

What each ingredient does

Rabbit: Forms the main body of the dish, cooked gently until tender in butter and herbs.
Clarified butter: Browns the rabbit pieces and carries flavour, since its milk solids have been removed.
Espagnole sauce: Brown sauce base that gives the dish its rich, savoury body and gloss.
Quenelles of rabbit: Soft, delicate meat dumplings that add texture and a tender contrast to the rabbit.
Mushrooms: Add earthy savoury depth and a meaty texture to the sauce.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the rich butter and brown sauce.

The step that matters

Browning the rabbit until light brown. Browning the pieces in clarified butter builds flavour through the Maillard reaction. Crowding the pan or using heat that is too high can steam the meat instead, leaving it pale and less flavourful.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, butter, pepper, mushroom, truffle, shallot, sauce):

Capersfits about as well
Thymefits about as well
Tarragonfits about as well
Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, butter, pepper, mushroom, truffle, shallot, 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.

Rabbit, a LA Chasseur