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Rabbit, E)i Civet

A rabbit stew cooked with bacon, onions, herbs, claret wine, and stock, served with sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Rabbit, E)i Civet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Skin the rabbit.

  2. Draw the rabbit.

  3. Cut the rabbit into pieces.

Brown

  1. Melt butter in a stewpan over low heat.

  2. Brown the bacon slices in the butter.

  3. Add the rabbit pieces.

  4. Brown the rabbit pieces on both sides.

  5. Remove the rabbit and bacon, and keep them warm.

Make the sauce

  1. Gradually add flour to the butter, stirring continuously.

  2. Pour in the stock and claret, and continue stirring.

Finish and serve

  1. Return the rabbit and bacon to the pan.

  2. Let it boil uncovered for 1 hour.

  3. Serve in a deep dish with the 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. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  2. Rabbit + oniontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,292 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Rabbit + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,448 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Rabbit + peppertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,334 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-pentylpyridine (fat).

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

What each ingredient does

Rabbit
Provides the main meat, which becomes tender as it simmers in the sauce.
Butter
Carries the browning and adds richness to the pan and sauce.
Bacon
Adds fat and savoury flavour that seasons the sauce as it cooks.
Flour (in the method)
Thickens the butter and liquids into a smooth, lightly bodied sauce.
Claret
Adds acidity and wine flavour, and reduces to a richer sauce.
Stock
Forms the main cooking liquid that gives the sauce its body.

The step that matters

Adding the flour gradually while stirring continuously. Flour needs to be fully blended into the hot butter before liquid goes in. Adding it slowly and stirring constantly spreads the starch evenly, so the sauce thickens smoothly without lumps.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Potatofits about as well
  3. Mustardfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, butter, 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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