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Broiled Rabbits

Broiled rabbits are pieces of rabbit marinated in oil, parsley, leeks, mushrooms, garlic, salt, and pepper, wrapped in bacon and broiled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper 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 ↓

Broiled Rabbits

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the rabbits into pieces and marinate in oil mixed with parsley, leeks, mushrooms, garlic, salt, and pepper for a few hours.

  2. Wrap each piece of rabbit in bacon with some of the marinade.

Broil and serve

  1. Grease white paper with butter and place the wrapped rabbit inside.

  2. Broil on a gridiron over a very slow fire until cooked through.

  3. Serve hot in the paper.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,308 recipes

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

  3. Leek + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together150 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Parsley + leektop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together759 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  5. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Rabbits
Provide the lean meat that is cooked through over gentle heat.
Oil
Carries the herbs and garlic into the meat and keeps the rabbit moist while it cooks.
Bacon
Its fat bastes the rabbit as it broils, adding moisture and savory flavor.
Garlic
Adds pungent aroma that infuses the meat during the marinade.

The step that matters

Broil on a gridiron over a very slow fire until cooked through. Lean rabbit dries out and toughens quickly under strong heat. A very slow fire cooks the meat through gently while the bacon and oil keep it moist.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, parsley, leek, mushroom, garlic, pepper, butter):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, parsley, leek, mushroom, garlic, pepper, butter. 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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