Name: Spirit of Sweet-Herbs, for Broths
Ingredients: 2 ounces rectified spirit of wine; 1 teaspoon oil of origanum; 1 teaspoon dried lemon-thyme; 1 teaspoon dried sweet marjoram; 1 teaspoon dried winter-savory; ½ teaspoon celery seed; ½ teaspoon minced shallots

Why it works: Thyme and marjoram 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 ↓

Spirit of Sweet-Herbs, for Broths

Ingredients

2 ounces rectified spirit of wine
1 teaspoon oil of origanum
1 teaspoon dried lemon-thyme
1 teaspoon dried sweet marjoram
1 teaspoon dried winter-savory
½ teaspoon celery seed
½ teaspoon minced shallots

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a bottle.
Shake the bottle well two to three times a day for three to four days, carefully venting it each time you shake it.
Let it digest for fourteen days.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

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 + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,225 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together957 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).
Thyme + shallottop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,476 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Thyme + celerytop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,193 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Rectified spirit of wine: Acts as the solvent that draws aromatic compounds out of the herbs and oil.
Oil of origanum: Concentrated oil that gives a strong, sharp oregano aroma and flavour.
Dried lemon-thyme: Adds a citrusy, herbal aroma to the infusion.
Dried sweet marjoram: Adds a sweet, floral, herbal aroma to the infusion.
Dried winter-savory: Adds a peppery, herbal aroma and flavour to the infusion.
Celery seed: Adds a warm, earthy celery flavour to the infusion.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (spirit, wine, lemon, thyme, marjoram, shallot):

Rosemaryfits better
Tarragonfits better
Parsleyfits better
Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against spirit, wine, lemon, thyme, marjoram, 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.