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Rabbit, Rich Stew of

A hearty rabbit stew simmered with claret, stock, onions, bacon, and herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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, Rich Stew of

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Divide the rabbit into small joints.

  2. Cut the bacon into dice.

  3. Peel the onions.

Brown

  1. Heat the butter in a stewpan.

  2. Fry the onions and bacon until brown.

  3. Remove the onions and bacon to a plate.

  4. Add the rabbit to the pan and brown it slightly.

  5. Sprinkle in the flour and continue frying until both the rabbit and flour are well browned.

  6. Return the onions and bacon to the pan.

Stew and serve

  1. Add the hot stock, bouquet garni, cloves, peppercorns, and salt to taste.

  2. Cover closely and stew gently for about 1 hour, or until the rabbit is tender.

  3. Fifteen minutes before serving, add the claret.

  4. When the sauce reaches a simmer, add the liver cut into small pieces and cook for about 10 minutes.

  5. Serve the rabbit in the center of a hot dish.

  6. Strain the sauce over it.

  7. Garnish with bacon and onions.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Thyme + clovetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

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

  5. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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, which becomes tender through long gentle stewing.
Flour
Browned with the rabbit and thickens the stock into a sauce.
Butter
Fat for frying that browns the rabbit, bacon and onions and adds richness.
Streaky bacon
Fatty pork that flavours the fat and stock as it browns.
Claret
Adds acidity and wine flavour to the sauce when added near the end.
Button onions
Soften during stewing and add sweetness to the sauce.

The step that matters

Browning the rabbit and flour. Frying the rabbit and flour until well browned builds deep colour and nutty flavour through the Maillard reaction, which then carries into the sauce once the stock is added.

Swap the onion

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

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

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