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Fricassee of Rabbit and Onions

A stew of rabbit pieces and onions cooked in butter and chicken broth, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Fricassee of Rabbit and Onions

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

  1. In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat.

  2. Add the rabbit pieces and brown them on all sides.

  3. Add the sliced onions and cook until they are soft.

  4. Pour in the chicken broth and season with salt and pepper.

  5. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes until the rabbit is tender.

  6. Garnish with fresh parsley before serving.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Onion + chickentop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  3. Rabbit + chickentop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together339 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

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

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

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 simmering in liquid.
Onions
Soften and sweeten as they cook, adding body to the sauce.
Butter
Carries heat in the pan and adds richness and flavor for browning.
Chicken broth
Supplies the cooking liquid that moistens the meat during the covered simmer.

The step that matters

Browning the rabbit pieces. Searing the meat over medium heat creates browned flavor through the Maillard reaction. Pieces that are crowded or wet will steam instead, leaving the dish pale and blander.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Tarragonfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, onion, butter, chicken, 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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