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Rabbits a LA Ven^tienne

A French rabbit stew with mushrooms, shallots, and a lemon‑cayenne sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Rabbits a LA Ven^tienne

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the rabbit

  1. Skin and empty the rabbits, then cut them into pieces: remove the shoulders, separate the head from the neck, divide the back into four parts, and cut the legs into two pieces each.

Make the sauce

  1. In a stew-pan, melt the butter with the grated bacon.

  2. Add the chopped mushrooms, parsley, shallots, salt, pepper, and allspice; cook on low heat until softened.

  3. Add the rabbit pieces to the pan and cook until done.

  4. Remove the rabbit pieces and tilt the pan to skim off excess fat.

  5. Mix the flour with a little broth to make a paste.

  6. Add the paste to the pan and let it boil for a few minutes.

  7. Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl.

  8. Stir in the lemon juice and cayenne pepper.

  9. Add this mixture to the sauce.

  10. Adjust thickness with more broth if necessary.

Finish and serve

  1. Return the rabbit pieces to the sauce, keep hot, and serve immediately.

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. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Parsley + allspicetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,289 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Mushroom + shallottop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Rabbits
Provide the main meat, which is cooked gently until tender in the sauce.
Flour
Thickens the sauce into a smooth paste when boiled with the cooking liquid.
Egg yolks
Enrich and thicken the sauce, adding richness and body when stirred in.
Butter
Adds fat and rich flavour to the base in which the mushrooms and shallots soften.
Mushrooms
Add earthy flavour and moisture to the sauce as they soften.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich sauce and balances the egg yolks.

The step that matters

Adding the egg yolk mixture. Egg yolks thicken when heated gently but can scramble if the sauce is too hot. Remove the pan from strong heat or add the yolks off the boil, then keep the sauce warm rather than boiling so it stays smooth.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, mushroom, parsley, shallot, butter, pepper, flour):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, mushroom, parsley, shallot, butter, pepper, 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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