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 ↓
To Roast Rabbits
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Roast the rabbits
Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C).
Baste the rabbits with good butter and dredge them with a little flour.
Roast the rabbits for 20 minutes if small, or 30 minutes if larger.
Ensure the rabbits are cooked to a fine light brown.
Make the liver topping
Boil the liver with a small bunch of parsley, then chop them finely together.
Melt some butter in a pan, add half of the chopped liver and parsley, and pour it into the serving dish.
Garnish the dish with the remaining liver and parsley.
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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Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Rabbit + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,067 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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Rabbit + livertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together233 recipes
Shared aroma: geraniol (rose, geranium).
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Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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
- Rabbits
- Form the main body of the dish, cooking through in the oven.
- Good butter
- Adds richness and moisture while basting, and helps the rabbit brown.
- Flour
- Dusting on the rabbits helps create a light browned crust.
- Liver
- Provides a rich, savoury flavour and a finely chopped spread for the dish.
The step that matters
Ensure the rabbits are cooked to a fine light brown. Rabbit is very lean and dries out quickly, so it can turn tough if overcooked. Checking colour and doneness on time keeps the meat moist while the surface browns.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, butter, flour, liver):
- Capersfits better
- Sagefits about as well
- Thymefits about as well
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, butter, flour, liver. 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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