Name: Stuffing for Roast Turkey, Capon, or Fowls
Ingredients: ¼ pound beef or veal suet, chopped fine; ¼ pound fine bread crumbs; ½ ounce fat ham or bacon, chopped fine; ¼ teaspoon lemon thyme; ¼ teaspoon parsley; ¼ teaspoon lemon peel, chopped fine or grated; 1 small shallot, minced; ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg; pepper to taste; coarse sea salt to taste; 1 egg, yolk and white separated

Why it works: Thyme and parsley 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 ↓

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 + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,057 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,037 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,973 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,737 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Thyme + shallottop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,476 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg: Binds the stuffing together so it holds its shape rather than falling apart.
Bread crumbs: Provide the bulk and absorb fats and juices, giving the stuffing body.
Suet: Adds fat that keeps the stuffing moist and rich as it cooks.
Ham or bacon: Contributes savory, salty flavor and additional fat.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, bread, ham, lemon, thyme, parsley, shallot):

Marjoramfits better
Tarragonfits better
Capersfits better
Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, bread, ham, lemon, thyme, parsley, shallot. 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.