Why it works: Butter and currant 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
Prepare the hare
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 slices of bacon.
Sew up the hare and truss it as usual.
Roast and serve
Lard the hare if convenient and baste it generously with butter while roasting.
Serve with a sauce made from melted currant jelly mixed with 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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Butter + curranttop 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
What each ingredient does
- Hare
- Forms the main meat, which is roasted whole after boning and stuffing.
- Forcemeat
- Fills the boned body, adding moisture and a dense, seasoned texture to the roast.
- Bacon
- Lines the cavity, adding fat that bastes the lean meat and flavour as it renders.
- Butter
- Basting fat that promotes browning and keeps the surface moist during roasting.
- Currant jelly
- Adds sweetness and acidity to the sauce, balancing the rich gamey meat.
The step that matters
Keeping the skin intact while boning. The skin holds the stuffing and keeps the hare's shape during roasting. A cut through it lets the forcemeat escape and the meat dry out in the oven.
“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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