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Hare Pie

A savory pie made with hare, shallots, herbs, and port wine, topped with pastry and served with a port wine gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Hare Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the hare

  1. Cut the hare into pieces.

  2. Parboil the pieces for 2 minutes to cleanse them, then wash the pieces well.

Make the gravy

  1. Place the hare in a stew pot with shallots, port wine, thyme, savory, marjoram, parsley, cloves, and allspice.

  2. Cover with veal broth.

  3. Stew until half done.

  4. Remove prime pieces like the back and legs.

  5. Leave the rest to stew longer.

  6. Strain the gravy from the trimmings.

  7. Thicken the gravy slightly.

  8. Add ½ cup port wine and lemon juice to the gravy.

Assemble and bake

  1. Fill a dish with the reserved pieces and some water.

  2. Line the bottom of the dish with hare stuffing.

  3. Make forcemeat rolls.

  4. Pour the gravy into the pie while hot.

  5. Cover with pastry.

  6. Bake for 1 hour.

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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Marjoram + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Thyme + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,077 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Hare
Forms the main meat, which becomes tender through slow stewing.
Port wine
Adds sweetness and depth of flavour to the stewed meat and gravy.
Shallots
Add a mild savoury sweetness that builds the base flavour of the gravy.
Veal broth
Provides body and savoury richness to the stewing liquid and gravy.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich gravy and balances the port.

The step that matters

Stew until half done. Stopping at the halfway point lets the prime pieces be removed before they overcook and dry out, while the rest finishes stewing to enrich the gravy.

Swap the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (port wine, thyme, marjoram, parsley, clove, allspice, veal):

  1. Carrotfits about as well
  2. Shallotthe original
  3. Parsnipfits less well
  4. Turnipfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against port wine, thyme, marjoram, parsley, clove, allspice, veal. 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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