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To Make a Rabbit Taste Much Like Hare

A rabbit is hung, seasoned, soaked, and roasted to taste like hare.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,395 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

To Make a Rabbit Taste Much Like Hare

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Hang the rabbit in its skin for 3 to 4 days.

  2. Skin the rabbit without washing it.

Season and cure

  1. Season the rabbit with black pepper, allspice, port wine, and vinegar.

  2. Baste the rabbit occasionally for 40 hours.

  3. Do not wash off the soaking liquid.

Roast

  1. Stuff the rabbit and roast it like a hare, using the same sauce.

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Port wine + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together598 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Allspice + vinegartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  4. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  5. Allspice + port winetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together400 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

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

What each ingredient does

Rabbit
Is the main protein; its lean meat is what the seasoning and curing act on.
Port wine
Adds sweetness and depth to the soaking liquid and sauce, and helps flavour the meat.
Vinegar
Adds acidity to the soaking liquid, which helps tenderise and preserve the meat.
Black pepper
Contributes aroma and gentle heat to the seasoning.
Allspice
Contributes warm, aromatic flavour to the seasoning.

The step that matters

Do not wash off the soaking liquid. Rinsing removes the seasoning and acidic liquid that flavour and partly preserve the meat, so the cure works less well and the flavour is weaker.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, pepper, port wine, vinegar):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, pepper, port wine, vinegar. 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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