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Hare Soup

A hearty soup made from hare, vegetables, herbs, and port, simmered until tender.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Hare Soup

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 Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the hare

  1. Wash and joint the hare as if for jugging. Dry the pieces.

Brown and simmer

  1. Place the hare pieces in a pan with the ham, vegetables, herbs, and heated clarified fat. Stir until well browned.

  2. Add the water or stock. Stir continuously until it boils. Skim the surface well. Add a little salt. Skim again.

  3. Cover and boil until the hare is tender. Remove the back, shoulders, and legs and set aside.

  4. Continue boiling until the meat and vegetables can pass through a coarse sieve.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Hare
Provides the main meat, which breaks down during long boiling to thicken and flavour the soup.
Browned flour
Thickens the soup and adds a toasted, nutty colour and flavour.
Clarified fat
Carries heat for browning the hare and adds richness to the soup.
Port
Adds sweetness and depth of flavour to the finished soup.

The step that matters

Skim the surface well. Skimming removes foam and impurities that rise as the liquid first boils, keeping the stock clear and clean-tasting before the long simmer.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, turnip, mushroom, ketchup, thyme, marjoram, parsley):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Parsnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, turnip, mushroom, ketchup, thyme, marjoram, parsley. 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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