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Marinade Crue

A vinegar-based seasoning mixture for game meat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Marinade Crue

Ingredients

Directions

Make the marinade

  1. Combine the carrots, onions, parsley, garlic, bay leaves, basil, thyme, salt, mace, vinegar, and water in a large container. Mix well to ensure all ingredients are combined.

Marinate the meat

  1. Submerge the game meat (venison, deer, boar, or beef fillets) in the mixture.

  2. If marinating for 1-2 days, add an additional 4 cups of vinegar.

  3. Let the meat marinate for 7-8 days for best results.

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. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Basil + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  4. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Parsley + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,351 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

Vinegar
Acidifies the marinade, helping to tenderize the meat's surface and add tang.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the meat and draws moisture from it, helping flavors penetrate.
Onions
Add savory sweetness and aromatic flavor to the marinade liquid.
Carrots
Contribute natural sweetness and body to the marinade.

The step that matters

Marinating time. Vinegar is acidic and can make the surface of meat mushy and sour if left too long. Timing should follow the recipe's stated duration for the amount of vinegar used, so the meat tenderizes without becoming soft or overly tangy.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, onion, parsley, clove, garlic, basil, thyme):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Oreganofits better
  3. Winter savoryfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, onion, parsley, clove, garlic, basil, thyme. 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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