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Rabbit Mould

A gelatinous molded dish of rabbit, ham, and herbs set in aspic.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Rabbit and ham work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 273 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Rabbit Mould

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the rabbits

  1. Boil the rabbits gently with the ham, bay leaf, and herbs in 5.75 quarts of boiling water or white stock until tender.

  2. Remove the rabbits and cut the meat into large dice.

  3. Return the bones to the liquid and simmer for an additional hour.

Set the mould

  1. Dissolve the gelatine in the strained liquid.

  2. Arrange the rabbit pieces in a mould with slices of ham or tongue and hard-boiled egg.

  3. Pour the cooled liquid into the mould, shaking it to ensure the liquid reaches the bottom.

  4. Let it stand until firm, then turn it out onto a dish and garnish with parsley or salad.

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. Rabbit + hamtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together273 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  2. Rabbit + parsleytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together602 recipes

    Shared aroma: sabinene (woody, terpenic).

  3. Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,765 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Ham + parsleytop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,249 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Rabbits
Provide the main meat, which becomes tender through gentle simmering in the liquid.
Gelatine
Sets the cooled liquid into a firm jelly that holds the mould together.
Bones (in the method)
Release collagen and flavour into the liquid during the extra hour of simmering.

The step that matters

Pour the cooled liquid into the mould. The liquid must be cooled but still pourable so it does not cloud or cook the arranged pieces. Shaking helps it reach the bottom, so the jelly sets evenly when turned out.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Nutmegfits about as well
  2. Capersfits about as well
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, ham, egg. 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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