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Rabbit, Fricandeau of

A baked rabbit dish stewed in stock and tomato purée, served with a reduced gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Rabbit and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,448 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Rabbit, Fricandeau of

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Braise

  1. Lard the rabbit evenly and place it in a deep baking dish.

  2. Pour enough stock over the rabbit to cover it, and cover the dish with buttered paper.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) until tender, basting frequently and adding more stock if needed.

  4. Once cooked, remove the rabbit and keep it warm.

Finish and serve

  1. Boil the remaining liquid until reduced.

  2. Spread the tomato purée on a hot dish, place the rabbit on top, and pour the gravy over it.

  3. Serve very hot.

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. Rabbit + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,448 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  2. Rabbit + tomatotop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together107 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Tomato + buttertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,918 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Rabbit
Forms the main structure and meat that becomes tender through slow, moist baking.
Bacon
Larding adds fat that keeps the lean rabbit moist and flavourful as it cooks.
Stock
Provides moisture and flavour, and reduces to form the gravy.
Tomato purée
Adds acidity and savoury depth to the serving base and gravy.

The step that matters

Baking until tender while basting. Lean rabbit dries out easily, so keeping it covered, basting often and topping up stock helps the connective tissue soften slowly without the meat drying.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, butter):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Onionfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, butter. 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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