Name: Punjene Palačinke
Ingredients: ¼ cup cooking oil; 1 onion, finely chopped; ½ pound ground meat; 20 canned (19 ounces) plum tomatoes, peeled and chopped; salt and pepper to taste; 1 tsp marjoram, oregano and thyme; 10 crepes, store bought or homemade; For the topping; 2 eggs, separated; 1 ¼ cups Balkan-style yogurt or thick plain yogurt; ¼ tsp salt; ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese; ½ tsp nutmeg

Why it works: Marjoram and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. 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.

Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,225 recipes

Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
Marjoram + oreganotop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together166 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Oregano + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together791 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,767 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Pepper + marjoramtop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,609 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Ground meat: Forms the savory filling that gives the crepes their body and flavour.
Plum tomatoes: Provide moisture and acidity that build the sauce as the liquid cooks off.
Eggs: Whites whipped to soft peaks lighten the topping; yolks add richness and help it set.
Yogurt: Gives the topping a tangy, creamy base that stays moist in the oven.
Parmesan cheese: Adds savory flavour and helps the topping brown as it bakes.

The step that matters

Fold in the egg whites gently. Whipped whites trap air that makes the topping light and helps it puff and set. Overmixing or deflating them makes the topping dense and flat.

Swap the plum

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, meat, tomato, pepper, marjoram, oregano, thyme):

Limefits better
Lemonfits better
Avocadofits better
Plumthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, meat, tomato, pepper, marjoram, oregano, 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Parmesan Cheese	1 oz (28g)	110
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Plum	1 medium (66g)	30
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Oregano	1 tsp dried (1.8g)	5
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Meat	not in our table	0
Marjoram	not in our table	0
Topping	not in our table	0

Punjene Palačinke