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Fillets of Hare with Preserved Cherries

A hare fillet dish simmered with preserved cherries and a rich gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Fillets of Hare with Preserved Cherries

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the hare

  1. Cut the legs off the hare.

  2. Remove fillets from the body, keeping them as uniform as possible.

  3. Use a larding needle to insert strips of larding bacon into each fillet.

Make the gravy

  1. Combine the bones, onion, thyme, stock, pepper, salt, and parsley in a stewpan.

  2. Simmer slowly for at least 3 hours.

  3. Strain the sauce.

  4. Blend butter with flour.

  5. Add the mixture to the strained gravy.

  6. Stir in ketchup, red wine, and glaze.

Braise and serve

  1. Add the fillets and top with more larding bacon.

  2. Simmer gently for 30 minutes with the lid on, adjusting seasoning as needed.

  3. Remove herbs tied in muslin.

  4. Simmer for another hour.

  5. Serve the fillets in a circle with preserved cherries in the center, pouring gravy over the top.

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. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

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

  3. Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Onion + thymetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,171 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Thyme + red winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together749 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Hare fillets
Lean meat that becomes tender during slow simmering; larding bacon adds fat and moisture.
Larding bacon
Adds fat that melts into the meat, keeping the lean hare moist and flavourful.
Butter and flour
Form a roux that thickens the gravy to a smooth, coating consistency.
Red wine
Adds acidity and depth of flavour to the gravy as it reduces.
Preserved glacé cherries
Add sweetness and a fruity acidity that balances the rich, savoury gravy.

The step that matters

Blend butter with flour and add it to the strained gravy. Flour must be cooked into the butter and whisked into hot liquid so it dissolves without lumps; adding it cold or too quickly can leave clumps and a floury taste.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (thyme, pepper, parsley, butter, flour, ketchup, red wine):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Turnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against thyme, pepper, parsley, butter, flour, ketchup, red 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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