Why it works: Summer savory and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 125 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Mock Turtle Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make stock for the soup using fresh meat or salt pork.
In another pot, boil black beans for 2 hours.
Strain the beans through a colander into the soup.
Add cloves, summer savory, sweet marjoram, pepper, and coarse sea salt.
Strain the soup a second time before serving.
Add sliced lemon and sliced hard boiled eggs before serving.
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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Summer savory + marjoramtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together125 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Marjoram + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together957 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Beans + summer savorytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together39 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Clove + marjoramtop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,075 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Clove + summer savorytop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together143 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the beans
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, clove, summer savory, marjoram, pepper, lemon, egg):
- Beansthe original
- Walnutfits about as well
- Lentilsfits about as well
- Chestnutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against meat, clove, summer savory, marjoram, pepper, lemon, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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