Why it works: Clove and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓
Jugged Rabbit or Hare
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the rabbit
Wash the rabbit and cut it into joints.
Coat the rabbit pieces in flour and fry them quickly in hot butter in a frying pan.
Transfer the rabbit to a stew jar.
Make the stock
Slice and fry the onion, then pour the stock into the frying pan.
Bring the stock to a boil and pour it over the meat in the stew jar.
Stew and finish
Add the herbs and seasonings tied in muslin, cover tightly, and place the stew jar in a tin of water.
Cook for 1 hour.
Mix the flour smoothly with a little cold water, then pour a little gravy onto it.
Return the mixture to the jar and allow it to boil.
Add salt, pepper, and if desired, ⅓ cup of port wine.
Serve with forcemeat balls and red currant jelly.
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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Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Onion + clovetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,901 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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Rabbit + oniontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,292 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rabbit
- Provides the meat that becomes tender during slow, covered stewing.
- Butter
- Fat that browns the floured rabbit pieces and carries flavour into the dish.
- Flour
- Coats the rabbit and thickens the gravy as it cooks with the liquid.
- Stock
- Liquid that cooks the rabbit and forms the base of the gravy.
- Onion
- Adds savoury sweetness and aroma when fried before the stock is added.
The step that matters
Return the flour mixture to the jar and boil. Flour must be mixed smoothly into cold water before adding gravy, or it forms lumps. Bringing the thickened liquid to a boil activates the starch so the gravy thickens properly.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, butter, onion, pepper, flour):
- Garlicfits better
- Thymefits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, butter, onion, 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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