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Infusion of Spices Foe Turtle Soup

An infusion of herbs and Madeira wine used to flavor turtle soup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Infusion of Spices Foe Turtle Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the infusion

  1. In a saucepan, combine fresh marjoram, thyme, basil, savory, parsley, bay leaves, chopped shallots, and mushroom trimmings.

  2. Boil 1 pint of Madeira wine and pour it over the herbs.

  3. Cover the saucepan tightly and let it steep for 30 minutes.

Finish

  1. Strain the infusion through a napkin and add it to clear turtle soup.

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.

  1. Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Marjoram + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  3. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Marjoram + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Thyme + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

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

What each ingredient does

Madeira wine
Adds depth and a rich, sweet, aromatic flavour to the infusion.
Shallots
Add a mild, sweet onion-like aroma that builds the base flavour.
Mushroom trimmings
Add savoury, earthy umami flavour to the infusion.

The step that matters

Cover the saucepan tightly while steeping. A tight cover traps the volatile aromatic compounds from the herbs and hot wine so they infuse the liquid rather than escape as steam, keeping the flavour concentrated.

Swap the basil

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (marjoram, thyme, parsley, shallot, mushroom, madeira wine):

  1. Winter savoryfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Sagefits about as well
  4. Basilthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against marjoram, thyme, parsley, shallot, mushroom, madeira wine. 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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