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To Make a Rabbit Taste Much Like Iiare

A rabbit preserved by hanging, seasoning, soaking in port wine and vinegar, then roasting.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,395 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

To Make a Rabbit Taste Much Like Iiare

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Hang the rabbit in its skin for 3 to 4 days.

  2. Skin the rabbit without washing it.

  3. Season the rabbit with black pepper and allspice in a fine powder.

Soak and roast

  1. Soak the rabbit in port wine and vinegar for 40 hours, basting occasionally.

  2. Do not wash off the soaking liquid.

  3. Stuff the rabbit and roast it like a hare, using the same sauce.

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. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Port wine + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together598 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Allspice + vinegartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  4. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  5. Allspice + port winetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together400 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

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

What each ingredient does

Rabbit
The main meat, which the acidic soak flavours and helps tenderise before roasting.
Port wine
Adds sweetness and depth of flavour to the soaking liquid and the sauce.
Vinegar
Adds sourness that flavours the meat and helps tenderise it during the long soak.

The step that matters

Soak the rabbit for the full 40 hours. The acid in the vinegar and wine needs a long time to penetrate the meat and soften it. Cutting the soak short leaves the meat firmer and less seasoned, and basting keeps the surface evenly in contact with the liquid.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, pepper, port wine, vinegar):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Garlicfits about as well
  4. Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, pepper, port wine, vinegar. 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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