Why it works: Carrot and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,873 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓
Hare Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the stock
Cut the hare into pieces.
In a pot, combine hare pieces, water, onion, carrot, clove, mace, salt, and peppercorns.
Simmer for 4 to 5 hours, then strain the mixture.
Finish the soup
Remove the meat from the bones and pound it in a mortar.
When ready to serve, rub the pounded meat into the strained soup through a wire sieve.
Add bread crumbs and heat the soup slowly.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,873 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Clove + macetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,400 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Onion + clovetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,901 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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Carrot + macetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,592 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Remains of roast hare
- Provides the main meat flavour and body for the soup.
- Bread crumbs
- Thickens the soup as it absorbs liquid and heats.
- Onion
- Adds savoury sweetness and aroma to the stock.
The step that matters
Heat the soup slowly. Once bread crumbs are added, gentle heat keeps the soup from scorching on the base of the pot and lets the crumbs swell evenly and thicken smoothly without becoming lumpy.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, carrot, clove, bread):
- Marjoramfits better
- Celeryfits better
- Thymefits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against onion, carrot, clove, bread. 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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