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Fricassee of Rabbits, with Mushrooms

A tender rabbit stew with mushrooms, butter, onion, broth, and cream, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Fricassee of Rabbits, with Mushrooms

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Braise

  1. In a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat.

  2. Add the chopped onion and sauté until translucent.

  3. Add the rabbit pieces and brown on all sides.

  4. Stir in the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes.

  5. Pour in the chicken broth and bring to a simmer.

  6. Cover and cook for 1 hour until the rabbit is tender.

Finish and serve

  1. Remove the lid, stir in the heavy cream, and season with salt and pepper.

  2. Simmer for an additional 10 minutes.

  3. Garnish with fresh parsley before serving.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Mushroom + chickentop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,172 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).

  3. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

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

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  5. Onion + chickentop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Rabbit
Provides the main meat, which becomes tender through slow simmering in liquid.
Mushrooms
Add earthy flavour and moisture as they release juices into the sauce.
Butter
Adds richness and helps brown the rabbit and onion.
Onion
Builds a sweet, savory base flavour as it softens in the fat.
Chicken broth
Forms the cooking liquid that gently braises the rabbit and becomes the sauce.
Heavy cream
Adds fat and body, giving the sauce a smooth, rich texture.

The step that matters

Browning the rabbit pieces. Searing the rabbit on all sides creates browned flavour through the Maillard reaction. Skipping or rushing this step leaves the sauce pale and less savoury.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, mushroom, butter, onion, chicken, cream, pepper):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Celeryfits about as well
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, mushroom, butter, onion, chicken, cream, pepper. 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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