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To Roast Hare

A roasted hare prepared with pepper, ginger, charcoal, and a stuffing of liver, anchovy, bacon, suet, herbs, and bread crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,324 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

To Roast Hare

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the hare

  1. Wipe the hare dry.

  2. Remove the heart and liver.

  3. Scald the liver for stuffing.

  4. Mix pepper and ginger to rub inside the hare.

  5. Insert a piece of charcoal into the hare to prevent mustiness.

  6. Soak the hare in water for 1-2 hours, especially if old.

  7. Lard the hare to make it tender.

  8. Soak the hare in vinegar.

  9. Wash the hare well in water.

  10. If blood settles in the neck, soak in warm water.

  11. Nick the skin to release the blood.

Stuff and roast

  1. Stuff the hare's belly with the prepared stuffing.

  2. Sew the hare's belly up.

  3. Keep the hare at a distance from the fire initially.

  4. Baste with milk until half-cooked.

  5. Switch to butter.

Serve

  1. Serve with froth, rich gravy, melted butter, and currant-jelly sauce.

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. Ginger + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,324 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Liver + anchovytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together199 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).

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, which is lean and benefits from larding and soaking to tenderise.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, helping the surface brown and carrying flavour during basting.
Milk
Used for basting, its sugars and proteins help the surface brown gently as the hare cooks.
Liver
Scalded and used in the stuffing, adding savoury depth and moisture to the filling.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and bind the stuffing so it holds together in the belly.
Egg
Binds the stuffing ingredients together and helps it set when cooked.

The step that matters

Keep the hare away from the fire at first. Starting the hare far from direct heat lets the thick meat cook through gently, so the outside does not scorch before the centre is done.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, vinegar, milk, butter, liver, anchovy, nutmeg):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Cinnamonfits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, vinegar, milk, butter, liver, anchovy, nutmeg. 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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