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Civet of Rabbit

A rabbit stew cooked with potatoes and celery, served hot with ratafias.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,047 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Civet of Rabbit

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Clean and cut the rabbit into pieces.

Cook

  1. Place the rabbit pieces in a pot and cover with water.

  2. Simmer until the rabbit is tender.

  3. Add diced potatoes and chopped celery to the pot.

  4. Cook until the vegetables are soft.

Serve

  1. Serve hot with ratafias on the side.

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. Potato + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,047 recipes

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

  2. Rabbit + potatotop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together58 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Rabbit + celerytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together240 recipes

    Shared aroma: sabinene (woody, terpenic).

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 and flavorful through slow simmering.
Ratafias
Small almond-flavored biscuits served alongside, adding sweetness and a crisp contrast to the stew.
Potatoes
Add starch that thickens the cooking liquid slightly and gives the dish body.
Celery
Adds aromatic flavor and a little crunch-turned-soft texture to the stew.

The step that matters

Simmer until the rabbit is tender. Rabbit is lean and can turn dry or tough if boiled hard or cooked too briefly. A gentle simmer lets connective tissue break down slowly, keeping the meat moist and tender.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Rosemaryfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, potato. 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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