Name: Rabbit, a LA Chasseur
Ingredients: 1 rabbit, cut into small joints; 2 ounces clarified butter; pepper, to taste; coarse sea salt, to taste; 1 tablespoon chopped fine herbs (mushrooms, truffle, parsley, shallot); 1 large spoonful Espagnole sauce; scallops of mushrooms and truffles; 2 dozen small quenelles of rabbit; a small piece of glaze; a little nutmeg; juice of ½ lemon; fried bread croutons, for serving

Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

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.

Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,737 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Mushroom + shallottop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,982 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Mushroom + truffletop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,900 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,525 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Rabbit: Forms the main body of the dish, providing the meat that is browned and then gently braised.
Clarified butter: Fat for frying that browns the rabbit pieces and carries flavour without burning as easily as whole butter.
Espagnole sauce: Brown sauce base that gives the dish its body, savoury depth and glossy coating.
Mushrooms and truffles: Add earthy aroma and savoury flavour to the ragout.
Quenelles of rabbit: Soft, tender dumplings that add texture and echo the rabbit in the sauce.

The step that matters

Frying the rabbit until light brown. Browning through the Maillard reaction builds deep savoury flavour and colour in the meat and the pan. Too little heat leaves it pale and bland, while too much can scorch the fat and bitter the sauce.

Swap the parsley

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

Capersfits about as well
Thymefits about as well
Tarragonfits about as well
Parsleythe original

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

Rabbit, a LA Chasseur