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Soup

To Make Hare Soup

A hearty soup made from hare, onion, herbs, and seasonings, finished with currant jelly, port wine, and optional cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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To Make Hare Soup

Why it works: Butter and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,525 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓

To Make Hare Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. In a stewpan, combine the hare pieces, bones, and any odd pieces of meat with enough water or stock to cover.

  2. Simmer until the hare is tender, about 1-2 hours.

  3. Remove the hare, cut off nice pieces for serving, and pound the remaining meat with a little stock.

Finish the soup

  1. Return the bones to the pot with the strained stock.

  2. Add the onion, sweet herbs, flour, butter, mushroom ketchup, and cayenne pepper.

  3. Simmer for 3-4 hours, then strain the soup.

  4. Stir in the pounded hare, currant jelly, and port wine.

  5. For a richer flavor, add cream 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

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

  2. Currant + port winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together356 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Onion + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,626 recipes

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

  4. Mushroom + port winetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together570 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 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

Hare
Provides the main meat and, with its bones, the body and flavor of the stock.
Flour
Thickens the stock and gives the soup a fuller, smoother body.
Butter
Adds richness and a rounded flavor to the soup.
Port wine
Adds depth, a little sweetness and a fruity note to the soup.
Currant jelly
Adds sweetness and a touch of acidity that balances the savory meat.
Cream
Adds richness and a softer, silkier mouthfeel to the finished soup.

The step that matters

Stirring in the flour and butter before the long simmer. Flour added directly to hot liquid clumps. Thickening works best when the flour is well mixed into the liquid so it hydrates evenly, and a long simmer then smooths the body.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, pepper, flour, butter, mushroom, ketchup, port wine):

  1. Lemonfits better
  2. Red currantfits better
  3. Limefits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, pepper, flour, butter, mushroom, ketchup, 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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