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To Roast Rabbits

A whole rabbit stuffed with liver, bread, ham, herbs, and egg, then roasted.

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 ↓

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.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

Stuff and roast

  1. Stuff the rabbits with the minced liver, grated bread, ham, butter or suet, parsley, lemon thyme, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and beaten egg.

  2. Sew the rabbits up and place them in the oven.

  3. Baste the rabbits with butter while roasting.

  4. Roast for about 1 hour until cooked through.

Serve

  1. Serve with gravy or melted butter mixed with lemon pickle.

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 + lemontop 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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Bread + hamtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Binds the stuffing so it holds together around the rabbit.
Grated bread
Absorbs juices and adds bulk, keeping the stuffing moist and tender.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and browning, and moisture when basted over the rabbit.
Liver
Adds deep, rich flavour and body to the stuffing.
Ham
Contributes savoury, salty flavour to the stuffing.

The step that matters

Roast until cooked through. Rabbit is lean and dries out quickly, while the stuffing needs enough heat to set the beaten egg. Check that the meat is fully cooked, especially in the thickest parts, rather than relying only on the stated time.

“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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