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Jugged Hare

A stew of hare simmered with onion, carrot, bay leaf, peppercorns, and a roux-based sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and carrot are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,601 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Jugged Hare

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare and simmer

  1. Clean and prepare the hare, cutting it into pieces.

  2. In a large pot, cover the hare with water and add onion, carrot, bay leaf, peppercorns, and salt.

  3. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until tender, about 1.5 to 2 hours.

  4. Remove the hare and strain the broth.

Make the sauce

  1. In a separate pan, melt butter and stir in flour to make a roux.

  2. Gradually add the strained broth to the roux, stirring until thickened.

  3. Return the hare to the sauce, add vinegar, and heat through before serving.

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. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Carrot + flourtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,029 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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 becomes tender through long, gentle simmering.
Flour
Combined with butter to form a roux that thickens the broth into a sauce.
Butter
Fat that cooks the flour into a roux and adds richness to the sauce.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the rich, savory sauce.

The step that matters

Gradually add the strained broth to the roux. Adding liquid slowly while stirring keeps the flour smooth and lets starch granules swell evenly, which prevents lumps and gives a uniformly thickened sauce.

Swap the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, vinegar, flour, butter):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Mustardfits better
  4. Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, vinegar, flour, 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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