Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Leveret, Roasted
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and roast
Truss the leverets like a hare, without stuffing.
Roast them before a clear fire, basting frequently.
Finish and serve
A few minutes before serving, lightly dredge with flour.
Serve with plain gravy 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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + curranttop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,856 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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Flour + curranttop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,077 recipes
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
- Leverets
- Provide the lean meat that is the main component of the dish.
- Butter
- Adds fat and moisture for basting, helping the meat brown and stay juicy.
- Flour
- Lightly dredged on the surface, it helps form a browned, slightly crisp coating.
- Red-currant jelly
- Adds sweetness and acidity that balance the rich, gamey meat.
The step that matters
Roast them before a clear fire, basting frequently. Lean game meat dries out easily, so frequent basting with fat and juices keeps the surface moist while it browns. Steady, clear heat cooks it evenly without scorching.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, 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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