Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Baked Rabbit
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a good oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the rabbit
Stuff the rabbit with seasoned bread crumbs.
Sew the stuffing inside and skewer the head back between the shoulders.
Cut off the fore joints of the shoulders and legs, bring them close to the body and secure with a skewer.
Wrap the rabbit in buttered paper and baste it well.
Roast and serve
Remove the paper a few minutes before it's done, flour it, and let it brown.
Bake for about 45 minutes in a 350°F (175°C) oven.
Remove the skewers and serve with brown gravy and red currant jelly.
Garnish with slices of lemon if desired.
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.
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Red currant + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together309 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Bread + red curranttop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together84 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Rabbit + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,067 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
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 cooks through during roasting.
- Butter
- Enriches the meat and helps it stay moist while wrapped and basted.
- Flour
- Dusted on the surface, it helps the outside take on a golden brown color.
- Seasoned bread crumbs
- Stuffing that fills the cavity and adds moisture and body inside the rabbit.
- Red currant jelly
- Adds sweetness and acidity that balance the rich, savory meat.
The step that matters
Remove the paper a few minutes before it's done. Wrapping in buttered paper keeps the meat moist, but the surface only browns once exposed. Removing the paper late, then flouring, allows browning without drying the meat too much.
Swap the red currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, butter, bread, flour, lemon):
- Raisinfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Red currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, butter, bread, flour, lemon. 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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