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Jugged Hare

Jugged Hare is a stew of hare pieces cooked in a sealed jar with herbs, onion, and wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Jugged Hare

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the hare

  1. Wash the hare thoroughly and cut it into serving pieces.

  2. Place the hare pieces in a stone jar with the rump steak at the bottom.

  3. Add the ham or bacon, lemon thyme, sweet marjoram, lemon peel, and onion with cloves.

  4. Pour in the water and lemon juice, then tightly cover the jar with a piece of bladder.

Cook in the jar

  1. Place the jar in a saucepan.

  2. Set the jar on top.

  3. Fill with water to within 2 inches of the jar's top.

  4. Alternatively, use a steamer to cook the jar.

  5. Keep the jar in boiling water or in the steamer for 3 hours.

Make the gravy and serve

  1. Once done, strain the gravy.

  2. Remove the onion.

  3. Skim off the fat.

  4. Thicken the gravy with flour.

  5. Season with pepper and salt.

  6. Bring to a boil.

  7. Warm the port wine and cayenne pepper in the gravy for added flavor.

  8. Serve the hare pieces in a deep dish.

  9. Pour the sauce over them.

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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Lemon + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together957 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Lemon + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Marjoram + clovetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Thyme + clovetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Hare
Forms the main meat, which becomes tender through long, gentle moist cooking in the sealed jar.
Rump steak
Adds meaty flavor and juices to the gravy as it cooks slowly beneath the hare.
Flour
Thickens the strained gravy so it coats the hare pieces instead of running thin.
Port wine
Adds sweetness and depth of flavor to the finished gravy.
Onion
Releases savory aroma into the cooking liquid, and is removed before serving.

The step that matters

Keeping the jar sealed and the water at a steady boil for 3 hours. A tight seal traps steam so the meat cooks in its own juices and stays moist. If the seal leaks or the water level drops, the liquid can dry out and the meat toughens.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, lemon, thyme, marjoram, clove, pepper, flour):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, lemon, thyme, marjoram, clove, 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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