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Rabbit, Pilau of

A stew of rabbit and rice cooked with butter, onions, and stock.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Rice and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,433 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Rabbit, Pilau of

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash and dry the rabbit thoroughly.

  2. Cut the rabbit into neat joints.

  3. Heat 2 oz of butter in a stewpan.

  4. Add the onions to the butter.

  5. Cook gently until lightly browned.

  6. Wash and drain the rice.

  7. Add the rice to the onions and butter.

  8. Stir over the heat for about 10 minutes.

Cook the rice

  1. Cover the rice with boiling stock.

  2. Simmer gently.

  3. Add stock as needed to prevent the rice from sticking.

Brown the rabbit and finish

  1. Fry the rabbit slowly in the remaining butter until well browned.

  2. Add the rabbit and the butter to the stewpan with the rice.

  3. Continue to cook slowly for 1 hour, or until the rabbit is tender.

  4. Serve the rabbit piled on the rice.

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. Rice + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,433 recipes

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

  2. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  3. Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,379 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Rabbit + ricetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together252 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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; slow cooking until tender breaks down its connective tissue.
Carolina rice
Forms the bulk of the dish, absorbing stock as it cooks to become soft and fluffy.
Butter
Adds richness and carries flavour, and its fat helps brown the rabbit and onions.
Onions
Browning in butter builds sweetness and savoury depth into the dish.
Stock
Cooks the rice and keeps it moist, adding savoury flavour throughout.

The step that matters

Adding stock to the rice. Rice that runs dry can scorch and stick to the pan, while too much liquid makes it soggy. Adding stock as needed keeps the grains moist and cooking evenly until they are tender.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, rice, 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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