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Hare-fillets with ‘quenelles’

Hare fillets served with quenelles, game gravy, and garnishes such as truffles, olives, mushrooms, or chestnut puree.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Truffle and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,900 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Hare-fillets with ‘quenelles’

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the hare

  1. Trim the hare fillets, removing the skin and cutting each into five pieces.

  2. Moisten and slightly beat the fillets, then shape them like poultry fillets.

  3. Season with salt and pepper.

Make the gravy and quenelles

  1. In a flat stewpan, pour in melted butter and arrange the fillets side by side.

  2. Prepare game gravy with the bones and remains of the hare, thickening it slightly.

  3. Make a force-meat with the trimmings and form small quenelles using a teaspoon.

  4. Poach the quenelles in salted water.

Cook and serve

  1. Fry the fillets on a brisk fire, turning them until they are set but juicy inside.

  2. Drain the fillets and moisten with four spoonfuls of the prepared sauce before serving.

  3. Pour the remaining sauce over the fillets and garnish with truffles, olives, mushrooms, or chestnut puree.

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. Truffle + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,900 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  2. Olive + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,571 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  3. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Olive + chestnuttop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together448 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Mushroom + chestnuttop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together474 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

Hare fillets
Provide the main meat, which sets firm on frying while staying tender and juicy inside.
Melted butter
Carries heat evenly and adds richness and browning to the fillets as they fry.
Game gravy
Adds moisture and savoury depth, thickened so it coats the fillets when served.
Trimmings of the fillets
Bound into a force-meat, giving the quenelles a soft, cohesive texture.
Chestnut puree
Adds body and a mild sweetness as a garnish accompanying the rich meat.

The step that matters

Frying the fillets. Fry on a brisk fire and turn them only until set. Lean meat tightens and dries quickly when overcooked, so a short, hot sear keeps the inside juicy.

Swap the chestnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, butter, sauce, truffle, olive, mushroom):

  1. Beansfits about as well
  2. Chestnutthe original
  3. Peasfits about as well
  4. Walnutfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, butter, sauce, truffle, olive, mushroom. 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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