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Hare Soup

A hearty hare soup simmered with herbs, ham, beef, carrots, onions, and port wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Hare Soup

Why it works: Thyme and winter savory match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 780 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Hare Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the soup

  1. Combine the hare, allspice, mace, salt, black pepper, parsley, lemon thyme, winter savory, water, ham, beef, carrots, and onions in a stew-pan.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  3. Reduce the liquid to 3 quarts.

  4. Remove the hare from the pot.

  5. Strain the soup.

Finish and serve

  1. Add the port wine.

  2. Bring the soup to a boil 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 + winter savorytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together780 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Allspice + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,077 recipes

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

  4. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

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

  5. Allspice + winter savorytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together287 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Hare
Gives the soup its main meat flavor as it simmers in the stock.
Beef
Adds body and rich savory flavor to the broth during long simmering.
Onions
Build sweetness and savory depth as they soften into the stock.
Port wine
Adds sweetness, acidity and a rich aroma to the finished soup.

The step that matters

Reducing the liquid to 3 quarts. Simmering concentrates flavor as water evaporates, so stopping at the right volume sets the soup's strength. Reducing too far makes it salty and thick, while too little leaves it thin and weak.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (allspice, pepper, parsley, lemon, thyme, winter savory, ham):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Sagefits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against allspice, pepper, parsley, lemon, thyme, winter savory, ham. 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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