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Hare Soup

A soup made from hare, ham, bones, onion, celery, herbs, and water, finished with sauce and cayenne.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Hare Soup

Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Hare Soup

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Place hare pieces at the bottom of a large jar.

  2. Add ham, bones, onion, celery, herbs, and boiling water.

Cook and strain

  1. Put the jar in a 300°F (150°C) oven until the hare is tender.

  2. Strain the liquid and remove the fat.

Finish and serve

  1. Bring the liquid to a boil with Harvey's sauce and cayenne pepper.

  2. Serve with force‑meat balls in the tureen.

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. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  2. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  4. Ham + meattop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Onion + livertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,420 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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

What each ingredient does

Hare
Provides the main meat flavour and body as it becomes tender in the liquid.
Ham or gammon
Adds savoury, salty depth to the broth.
Onion
Contributes sweetness and aroma as it slowly flavours the broth.
Celery
Adds a fresh, vegetal aroma to the broth.
Harvey's sauce
Adds tangy, savoury acidity and complexity to the finished soup.

The step that matters

Remove the fat. Fat rises and sets on the cooled or strained liquid. Removing it before reheating keeps the soup clear and prevents a greasy mouthfeel.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, onion, sauce, pepper, meat, liver):

  1. Thymefits about as well
  2. Garlicfits about as well
  3. Capersfits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, onion, sauce, pepper, meat, liver. 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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