Name: For Making Sausage
Ingredients: 30 pounds of sausage meat; 8 ounces of coarse sea salt; 1.5 ounces of summer savory; 2.25 ounces of sage; 2 ounces of freshly ground black pepper

Why it works: Summer savory and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 237 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

For Making Sausage

Ingredients

30 pounds of sausage meat
8 ounces of coarse sea salt
1.5 ounces of summer savory
2.25 ounces of sage
2 ounces of freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Chop the sausage meat finely and remove all gristle and tough parts.
In a bowl, combine the salt, summer savory, sage, and black pepper.
Knead the seasoning mixture into the sausage meat thoroughly.
Pack the seasoned meat into stone jars and store in a cold place, avoiding freezing.

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.

Summer savory + sagetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together237 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,388 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Summer savory + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together671 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together8,777 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Meat + summer savorytop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together73 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).