Why it works: Currant and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,856 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, pear. The science ↓
Roast Hare
Ingredients
Directions
Remove the bones from the back and thighs of the hare using a sharp knife, being careful not to cut through the skin.
Prepare double the usual quantity of forcemeat and restore the legs to their original shape.
Line the body of the hare with delicate slices of bacon, trimming the rind and edges.
Sew up the hare and truss it as usual.
Lard the hare if convenient and baste it generously with butter while roasting.
Serve with a sauce made by melting currant jelly in rich brown gravy.
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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Currant + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,856 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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