Why it works: Parsley and thyme 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 ↓
Turkey and Fowl Stuffing
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the sausage meat, parsley, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, mixed herbs, egg, and thyme together with your hands in a bowl, then season the mixture to taste.
Use the mixture to stuff fowl, turkey, or other poultry.
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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Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,585 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Meat + breadtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,924 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sausage meat
- Provides fat and savoury flavour, making the stuffing rich and moist.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb juices and fat, giving the stuffing body and a soft texture.
- Egg
- Binds the mixture so it holds together when stuffed and cooked.
Swap the thyme
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, parsley, bread, pepper, egg):
- Thymethe original
- Marjoramfits about as well
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Tarragonfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against meat, parsley, bread, pepper, egg. 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.
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