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Rabbit Stewed

A stew of rabbit pieces with ham, butter, wine, stock, mace, pepper, salt, onions, mushrooms, and herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,525 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓

Rabbit Stewed

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the rabbit

  1. Blanch the rabbit pieces in boiling water for 5 minutes, then dry them.

  2. In a pan, fry the rabbit with the sliced ham and butter until nicely colored.

Simmer and finish

  1. Pour off the fat, then add the red wine, stock, mace, pepper, salt, onions, mushrooms, and herbs.

  2. Simmer gently for 1 hour.

  3. Remove the herbs and dish the rabbit.

  4. Reduce the gravy until just sufficient for the rabbit.

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. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  2. Red wine + mushroomtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together720 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Onion + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,626 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Rabbit
Forms the main body of the stew, becoming tender during the long, gentle simmer.
Lean ham
Adds savory, salty flavor and seasons the meat and gravy as it cooks.
Butter
Carries fat for frying, helping the rabbit brown and develop rich flavor.
Red wine
Adds acidity and depth to the gravy as it simmers and reduces.
Button onions
Add sweetness and body to the gravy as they soften during simmering.
Mushrooms
Contribute earthy flavor and moisture to the gravy.

The step that matters

Reduce the gravy until just sufficient for the rabbit. Reducing concentrates the flavor of the wine, stock and meat juices, while too much reduction can make the sauce overly thick or salty. Stopping at the right point keeps the gravy rich but still coating the meat.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, ham, butter, red wine, pepper, onion, mushroom):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, ham, butter, red wine, pepper, onion, mushroom. 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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