Why it works: Marjoram and thyme 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 ↓
Sucking Pig a LA Busse with Horseradish Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the pig
Boil the pig in a vegetable soup made from carrots, turnips, and onion.
Add a bouquet of marjoram, thyme, and summer savory to the soup.
Include vinegar in the broth and use a porcelain kettle.
Cook the pig until tender, testing with a skewer or fork.
Carve and serve
Carve the pig, sprinkle with parsley, and pour horseradish sauce over it 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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Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,225 recipes
Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
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Thyme + summer savorytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together214 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Marjoram + summer savorytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together125 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Marjoram + parsleytop 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
What each ingredient does
- Sucking pig
- Provides the main meat, which becomes tender through long, gentle simmering.
- Vegetables for soup
- Carrots and turnips build the flavourful broth that the pig cooks in.
- Onion
- Adds savory, sweet depth to the broth as it cooks.
- Marjoram, thyme, and summer savory bouquet
- Infuses the broth and meat with herbal aroma during simmering.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity to the broth, brightening the flavour of the rich meat.
- Horseradish sauce
- Adds sharp, pungent heat that cuts through the richness of the pork.
The step that matters
Cook the pig until tender. Long, gentle simmering breaks down connective tissue into gelatin, which makes the meat tender. Testing with a skewer or fork shows when it is ready. Stopping too early leaves the meat tough, while a hard boil can make it dry and stringy.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, turnip, marjoram, thyme, summer savory, vinegar, parsley):
- Parsnipfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Leekfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, turnip, marjoram, thyme, summer savory, vinegar, parsley. 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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