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Gateau De Lievre, — Hare Cake for a Second Course

A savory hare meat cake baked slowly with liver, ham, lard, and aromatics.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Gateau De Lievre, — Hare Cake for a Second Course

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the forcemeat

  1. Prepare the hare and save the liver and blood.

  2. Scrape the meat from the skin and sinews, then mince it with the liver, calf’s liver, and ham.

  3. Pound the mixture with a little cold broth or hare/game soup until smooth.

  4. Add rasped lard, salt, pepper, blanched onions, and parsley, then mix well.

  5. Incorporate brandy and eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly.

Assemble the cake

  1. Line a stew‑pan with slices of lard and spread the forcemeat evenly to a thickness of 1.5 inches.

  2. Layer lard, pistachios, and truffles on top in a mosaic pattern, then cover with more forcemeat.

  3. Top with slices of bacon and cover with paper.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake slowly for 2 to 3 hours, depending on the thickness of the layers.

  2. Let it cool, then dip the pan in hot water to loosen the cake and turn it out.

  3. Garnish as desired and serve on a napkin.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Parsley + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + oniontop 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
Forms the main meaty body of the forcemeat, giving the cake its substance and flavour.
Calf’s liver
Adds richness and a smooth, tender texture to the forcemeat.
Rasped lard
Adds fat that keeps the forcemeat moist and tender as it bakes.
Eggs
Bind the mixture so it holds its shape when sliced and turned out.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavour to the forcemeat.
Cold broth or hare/game soup
Adds moisture and helps the mixture become smooth when pounded.

The step that matters

Baking slowly. A low, slow bake lets the thick forcemeat cook through evenly without drying out or curdling the eggs, which would make the cake crumbly and tough.

Swap the clove

The recipe marks clove as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, ham, pepper, onion, parsley, brandy, egg):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits about as well
  3. Celeryfits about as well
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against liver, ham, pepper, onion, parsley, brandy, egg. 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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