Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,225 recipes mention both. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓
The recipe
1 /2 cupIngredients
Contains: fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Also mentioned in the method: fish
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Measure each listed dried herb, spice and salt into a small dry bowl, keeping the ground and whole-leaf items separate until you are ready to combine them.
Crush any whole dried leaves, such as the rosemary, between your fingers so the pieces are roughly even in size.
Add all the ingredients to the bowl and whisk well for about 1 minute until the color and texture look uniform.
Check for clumps and break them up with the back of a spoon, then whisk again.
Spoon the finished blend into a clean, dry, airtight jar and seal it tightly.
Label the jar with the name and date, then store it in a cool, dry, dark cupboard away from the stove.
To season fish, sprinkle the blend evenly over both sides of the fillets before cooking.
Cook the fish until it is opaque and flakes easily, or to 145°F (63°C) in the thickest part.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,225 recipes
Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
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Sage + marjoramtop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together507 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Rosemary + sagetop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together465 recipes
Shared aroma: 1,8-cineol (eucalyptus, camphor).
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Basil + oreganotop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,390 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Rosemary + oreganotop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together344 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (basil, rosemary, pepper, sage, thyme, marjoram, oregano):
- Winter savorybetter flavor fit
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against basil, rosemary, pepper, sage, thyme, marjoram, oregano. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
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