Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓
Rabbit Patties
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the rabbit
Wash and dry the rabbit thoroughly, then cut it into neat pieces.
Insert thin strips of larding bacon into each piece of rabbit.
Braise
Heat the dripping in a stewpan and fry the rabbit quickly until lightly browned, then drain the fat.
Cover the rabbit with stock, add salt and pepper to taste, and the bouquet garni tied in muslin.
Cover closely and cook gently for 1 to 1.5 hours, or until the rabbit is tender.
Knead the butter and flour together, then add it in small pieces to the stewpan about 20 minutes before serving.
Serve
Serve with the sauce strained over the rabbit.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,585 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Rabbit
- Provides the main meat, which becomes tender through slow, covered cooking in stock.
- Larding bacon
- Adds fat and savoury flavour inside the lean rabbit meat as it cooks.
- Dripping
- Carries heat for the initial frying and adds rich flavour that browns the rabbit.
- Butter and flour
- Kneaded together and stirred in to thicken the cooking liquid into a sauce.
- Stock
- Forms the cooking liquid that gently braises the rabbit and becomes the sauce.
The step that matters
Adding the butter and flour thickening. Flour must be fully incorporated and given time to cook in the hot liquid, or the sauce stays cloudy and tastes raw. Adding it in small pieces prevents lumps from forming.
Swap the thyme
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (parsley, pepper, rabbit, butter, flour):
- Thymethe original
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Capersfits about as well
- Marjoramfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against parsley, pepper, rabbit, butter, flour. 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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