Why it works: Pepper and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 85,593 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Roast Hare
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Clean and prepare the hare, removing any innards.
Season the hare with salt and pepper, and rub with butter.
Place in a roasting pan and add herbs if desired.
Roast and serve
Roast in the oven for about 1.5 to 2 hours, basting occasionally.
Ensure the meat is cooked through before serving.
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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Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Hare
- Provides the main meat, which becomes tender and safe to eat once fully cooked.
- Butter
- Adds fat and moisture to the surface and helps it brown in the oven.
The step that matters
Ensure the meat is cooked through before serving. Hare is lean, so it can dry out or stay undercooked in the middle. Cooking until the thickest part is cooked through makes it safe and tender, and basting during roasting adds moisture.
“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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