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Hash, Stew, or Jug

A stew of hare simmered with gravy, spices, and flavorings such as port wine, catsup, and anchovy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Hash, Stew, or Jug

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Soak the hare in shallot vinegar with bay leaves and pounded cloves for several hours.

  2. Prepare good gravy by boiling meat trimmings, onions, ham or bacon, carrots, sweet herbs, and peppercorns.

  3. Season hare joints with salt, cayenne, and nutmeg in a stewpan.

  4. Strain the prepared gravy and vinegar over the hare joints.

Stew

  1. Stew gently for 3 to 5 hours until the hare is tender.

  2. Thicken the gravy with butter rolled in flour and chopped liver.

  3. Add port wine, catsup, and anchovy for flavor.

Alternative baking

  1. Alternatively, bake in a deep earthen pan at 300°F (150°C) for at least 4 hours.

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. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Shallot + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,019 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Shallot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,677 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Shallot + flourtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,081 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Hare
Provides the meat that becomes tender during long, gentle cooking.
Butter
Combined with flour to form a roux that thickens the gravy and adds richness.
Flour
Thickens the gravy when cooked with butter.
Liver
Chopped fine and stirred into the gravy to add body and depth.
Port wine
Adds sweetness and depth of flavor to the gravy.
Currant jelly
Adds sweetness and gloss to the finished sauce.

The step that matters

Stewing gently for 3 to 5 hours. Hare is lean and firm, so it needs long, low, moist heat to break down connective tissue. Boiling or rushing the cooking leaves the meat tough and dry.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, shallot, vinegar, pepper, nutmeg, butter, flour):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, shallot, vinegar, pepper, nutmeg, butter, flour. 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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