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Rabbit, Jugged

A rabbit braised in stock, port, lemon, and aromatics, served with veal forcemeat and red‑currant jelly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Rabbit, Jugged

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash and dry the rabbit, then cut it into neat joints.

Braise

  1. In a skillet, heat 1½ oz of butter and fry the rabbit joints until well browned.

  2. Add the stock, port or claret, lemon juice, onion, cloves, peppercorns, and bouquet garni.

  3. Simmer for about 2 hours until the rabbit is tender.

  4. Thicken the sauce with flour mixed in a little water if desired.

Serve

  1. Serve with veal forcemeat and a side of red-currant jelly.

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. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

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

  3. Lemon + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,973 recipes

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

  4. Clove + thymetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Clove + parsleytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Rabbit
Forms the main meat, becoming tender and flavourful during long, gentle simmering.
Butter
Fat that browns the rabbit joints, adding colour and roasted flavour to the dish.
Flour
Thickens the cooking liquid into a light, cohesive sauce.
Port or claret
Adds acidity and depth, flavouring the sauce during the long simmer.
Red-currant jelly
Adds sweetness and tartness that balances the rich, savoury sauce.

The step that matters

Browning the rabbit joints. Frying the joints until well browned builds colour and savoury flavour through the Maillard reaction. Pale joints produce a dull, less flavourful sauce, so the surfaces should be dried first and cooked until deep golden.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, lemon, butter, flour, clove, parsley, thyme):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, lemon, butter, flour, clove, parsley, thyme. 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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