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 ↓
To Make Soup From Stock
Ingredients
Directions
Put the required amount of stock in a pot and remove any sediment.
Add water, prepared white vegetables, and seasoning to taste.
Boil until the vegetables are well done.
Strain the soup through a sieve and serve immediately.
For thickening, add pearl barley, macaroni, or rice.
Use bay leaves, thyme, celery, parsley, sweet marjoram, mint, sage, onions, cloves, and mace for flavoring.
Season to taste, using catsup or sauces as desired.
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 + marjoramtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,225 recipes
Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
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Marjoram + sagetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together507 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Thyme + sagetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,485 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,979 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (barley, thyme, celery, parsley, marjoram, mint, sage):
- Carrotfits better
- Parsnipfits better
- Turnipfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against barley, thyme, celery, parsley, marjoram, mint, sage. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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