Name: Turkey and Chicken Stuffing
Ingredients: 3 cups grated bread crumbs (no crust); 1 cup finely chopped suet; ⅔ cup chopped parsley; 1 tablespoon sweet marjoram; 1 tablespoon summer savory; ½ teaspoon pepper; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 or 2 eggs, beaten

Why it works: Marjoram and summer savory 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 ↓

Turkey and Chicken Stuffing

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stuffing

In a bowl, combine the grated bread crumbs, chopped suet, chopped parsley, marjoram, savory, pepper, and salt.
Add the beaten eggs and mix until well combined.

Use

Use the stuffing to fill the turkey or chicken before roasting.

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.

Marjoram + summer savorytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together125 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,979 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Parsley + summer savorytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together241 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Marjoram + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,609 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Bread crumbs: Form the bulk of the stuffing and soak up fat and juices as it cooks.
Suet: Adds richness and fat that keeps the stuffing moist and tender.
Eggs: Bind the crumbs and suet together so the stuffing holds its shape.

Swap the summer savory

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, parsley, marjoram, pepper, egg):

Thymefits about as well
Summer savorythe original
Sagefits about as well
Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, parsley, marjoram, 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.