Name: Apple-herb Stuffing for All Seasons
Ingredients: 6 cups torn chunks French, sourdough or country loaf, torn into bits (I use 2 7-ounce demi-baguettes); 5 tablespoons unsalted butter; 1 large Spanish or sweet onion, chopped small; 1 large or 2 small stalks celery, diced small; 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves; 1/2 teaspoon table salt, plus more to taste; Freshly ground black pepper; 1 large or 2 small firm, tart tart apples, such as Granny Smith, peeled, cored and diced small; 1/4 cup roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley; 3 sage leaves, minced; 1/2 to 1 cup cup turkey, chicken or vegetable stock or broth; 1/2 teaspoon table salt; 1 large egg

Why it works: Thyme and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,485 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

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.

Thyme + sagetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,485 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,057 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,810 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Parsley + sagetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,445 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, onion, celery, thyme, pepper, parsley, sage):

Lemonfits better
Limefits better
Avocadofits better
Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, onion, celery, thyme, pepper, parsley, sage. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Apple	1 medium (182g)	95
Sourdough	1 slice (36g)	93
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Sage	1 tsp ground (0.7g)	2
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Apple-herb Stuffing for All Seasons