Why it works: Rabbit and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,067 recipes. Both carry acetaldehyde, which smells pungent, ethereal. The science ↓
Rabbit, Baked
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the rabbit
Skin, empty, and wash the rabbit.
Line the inside with 1-2 slices of fat bacon.
Fill with herb or veal stuffing and sew it up tightly.
Truss the rabbit firmly and lay slices of bacon on its back.
Place in a deep baking tin to prevent dryness.
Bake and baste
Cook in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).
Baste often with bacon fat or dripping.
When almost done, flour and baste the rabbit to brown it.
Serve
Remove the thread and skewers, and place on a hot dish.
Pour brown gravy or sauce over the rabbit and serve more in a tureen.
Garnish with sliced bacon and serve with jelly if desired.
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.
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Rabbit + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,067 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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Rabbit + saucetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together330 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Rabbit + vealtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together441 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-pentylpyridine (fat).
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Flour + saucetop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,078 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Flour + red curranttop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together394 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rabbit
- Forms the main body of the dish and cooks to tender meat when baked gently.
- Fat bacon
- Adds fat that keeps the lean rabbit moist and flavourful as it bakes.
- Herb or veal stuffing
- Fills the cavity, adding moisture and flavour while the rabbit cooks.
- Bacon fat or dripping
- Basting fat that carries heat over the surface, keeping it moist and promoting browning.
- Flour
- Dusted on near the end, it helps the surface brown and crisp under the heat.
The step that matters
Basting and the final flour browning. Rabbit is very lean and dries out easily, so frequent basting with fat keeps it moist. Flouring only near the end lets the coating brown without burning before the meat is cooked through.
Swap the red currant
The recipe marks red currant as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, veal, flour, sauce):
- Raisinfits better
- Lemonfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Red currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, veal, flour, sauce. 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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