Why it works: Thyme and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,077 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
To Prepare Large Pigs Feet and Ears
Ingredients
Directions
Scald and clean the pig's feet.
Split the feet and tie them with kitchen twine.
Place them in a pot and cover with water.
Bring to a boil, skim off any impurities, and add garlic, thyme, shallots, bay leaves, black pepper, allspice, mace, and coarse sea salt.
Braise until tender.
Transfer to an earthenware dish for later use.
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.
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Thyme + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,077 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Thyme + shallottop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,476 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,585 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Garlic + thymetop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,608 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Garlic + shallottop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,000 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (garlic, thyme, shallot, pepper, allspice, veal):
- Marjoramfits better
- Winter savoryfits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against garlic, thyme, shallot, pepper, allspice, veal. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
More pig's feet and ears recipes
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