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Hare Soup

A hearty soup made with hare, beef, mutton bones, bacon, onion, herbs, and seasonings, served with fried forcemeat balls.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Hare Soup

Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Hare Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. In a large pot, combine the hare, beef, mutton bones, bacon or ham, onion, and sweet herbs.

  2. Pour in the boiling water and cover the pot tightly with bladder and paper.

  3. Place the pot in a kettle of water and simmer until the hare is tender.

Season and serve

  1. Strain the liquid and bring it to a boil.

  2. Add the anchovy, soy sauce, Cayenne pepper, and salt to taste.

  3. Serve with fried forcemeat balls in the tureen.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  3. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  4. Beef + muttontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Onion + peppertop 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
Gives the soup its main meat flavour and body as it cooks down.
Beef
Adds meaty flavour and richness to the broth.
Mutton shank bones
Contribute gelatin and savoury depth to the stock.
Anchovy
Adds a savoury, salty depth that rounds out the broth.
Soy sauce
Adds savoury depth and colour to the broth.

The step that matters

Simmer until the hare is tender. Gentle simmering in a water bath, with the pot tightly covered, lets collagen and connective tissue break down slowly without the liquid boiling hard, which would toughen the meat and cloud the broth.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, mutton, ham, anchovy, sauce, pepper):

  1. Tomatofits about as well
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Onionthe original
  4. Shallotfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, mutton, ham, anchovy, sauce, pepper. 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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