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Curried Rabbit

A rabbit stew with salt, pepper, sugar, and shredded cabbage.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and cabbage are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,081 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Curried Rabbit

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the rabbit into pieces.

  2. In a pot, add the rabbit, salt, pepper, sugar, and enough water to cover.

  3. Boil together until the rabbit is cooked through.

Finish and serve

  1. Add shredded cabbage and cook until thick.

  2. Serve very hot.

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. Pepper + cabbagetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Rabbit + peppertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,334 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-pentylpyridine (fat).

  3. Rabbit + cabbagetop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  4. Rabbit + sugartop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together113 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Sugar + cabbagetop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Rabbit
Provides the main protein, which becomes tender as it simmers until cooked through.
Cabbage
Adds bulk and body, and thickens the liquid as it cooks down.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the salt and pepper in the broth.

The step that matters

Cooking the rabbit until thick. Cabbage released into the liquid needs enough time to soften and cook down, and the rabbit needs to be fully cooked through before it is safe to eat. Rushing either step leaves the dish underdone or watery.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, pepper, sugar):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, pepper, sugar. 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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