Why it works: Thyme and basil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,768 recipes mention both. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Put the olives, capers, soaked tomatoes, garlic, rind and juice of lemon in food processor and mix, but not too much, you should still be able to see small pieces of olives. Add, while mixing in the food processor some olive oil, untill the mixture is smooth enough to use as a spread. Then add thyme and/or basil (fresh tastes so much better) and black pepper, and perhaps the chilli pepper. Probabely you do not need any additional salt.
This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.
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 + basiltop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,768 recipes
Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
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Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together14,164 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Lemon + thymetop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,973 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Tomato + basiltop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,979 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Lemon + basiltop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,820 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the capers
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, tomato, garlic, lemon, thyme, basil, pepper):
- Oreganobetter flavor fit
- Rosemarybetter flavor fit
- Marjorambetter flavor fit
- Capersthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against olive, tomato, garlic, lemon, thyme, basil, pepper. 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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IllustrationThe Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
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