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Game Brawn

A savory stew of sheep tongues, rabbit, calf feet, and bacon simmered in a seasoned broth.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Rabbit and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,334 recipes. Both carry 2-pentylpyridine, which smells fat. The science ↓

Game Brawn

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meats

  1. Salt the sheep's tongues for 3-4 days.

  2. Bone the rabbits and crush the rabbit bones and heads.

  3. Combine the crushed rabbit bones, calf's feet, and cold water in a stewpan and bring the mixture to a boil.

  4. Add the stock vegetables, pepper, and salt, then simmer until the calf's feet are tender.

Make the broth

  1. Strain the broth and let it cool.

  2. Return the cooled broth to the stewpan with the sheep's tongues.

  3. Add Marsala wine and more water if needed to cover the tongues.

  4. Cook the tongues until tender, then remove them and peel them.

Cook the rabbit and assemble

  1. Stew the rabbit meat in the broth.

  2. When the rabbit is tender, return the tongues and meat from the feet to the pan.

  3. Stir gently over low heat and reduce the broth.

  4. Tear the rabbit meat into pieces with two forks and cut up the tongues and meat from the feet.

  5. Add the diced bacon and stir with some hot broth.

  6. Season with herbs mixture (a).

Set and serve

  1. Fill a brawn tin, pressing it down, and place a weight on top.

  2. Refrigerate for 12 hours.

  3. Turn out the brawn, trim it, glaze it, and garnish it.

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. Rabbit + peppertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,334 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-pentylpyridine (fat).

  2. Pepper + winetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,066 recipes

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

  3. Rabbit + winetop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together151 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Sheep's tongues
Provide the main meat with a firm, rich texture when cooked until tender.
Rabbits
Supply the main meat, which breaks into pieces that bind into the set brawn.
Calf's feet
Release gelatin into the broth so it sets firmly when chilled.
Marsala wine
Adds acidity and a fortified, aromatic depth to the broth.
Cooked fat bacon
Adds fat and savory richness that carries flavor through the set brawn.

The step that matters

Reduce the broth. Reducing concentrates the gelatin and flavor so the brawn sets firmly and tastes seasoned. Too little reduction leaves it loose; too much can make it overly salty once seasoned.

“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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