Skip to main content
Main

Rabbit Pie

A pie made with rabbit, veal forcemeat, ham, eggs, stock, and pastry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 Pie

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Wipe the rabbit and cut it into small joints.

  2. Use butter instead of suet to make the forcemeat and shape it into tiny balls.

  3. Season the rabbit with salt and pepper.

Assemble and bake

  1. Arrange the rabbit in a dish with the forcemeat and ham cut into small squares.

  2. Cut the hard boiled eggs into small pieces and pile them on top.

  3. Pour in the stock.

  4. Cover with flaky or short pastry and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 2 hours.

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,264 recipes

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

  4. Ham + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

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

  5. Egg + hamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 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

Rabbit
Forms the main body of the pie and supplies the meat that cooks tender over the long bake.
Veal forcemeat
Adds a soft, rich stuffing-like texture that contrasts with the firmer rabbit meat.
Hard boiled eggs
Add firm, sliced texture and a mild richness throughout the filling.
Ham
Contributes salty, savoury flavour that complements the mild rabbit.
Stock
Provides moisture and body, keeping the filling juicy during baking.
Pastry
Seals the filling and browns in the oven as a crisp, golden crust.

The step that matters

Covering and baking the pie. The pastry must seal the dish tightly so steam and juices stay inside, keeping the rabbit moist during the long bake. Gentle, even heat over two hours helps the meat become tender without drying out.

“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.

You might also like

Veal PattiesVeal Patties50 recipesBeef, Mutton, or Veal BrothBeef, Mutton, or Veal Broth6 recipesRabbit PattiesRabbit Patties6 recipesTomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipes