Name: J -green Turtle Soup
Ingredients: 1 green sea turtle; 1 cup green celery, scalded and washed; 1 cup onion tops, scalded and washed; 1 cup parsley, scalded and washed; thyme, marjoram, savory, and sweet basil (dried); water; coarse sea salt (to taste)

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 ↓

J -green Turtle Soup

Ingredients

1 green sea turtle
1 cup green celery, scalded and washed
1 cup onion tops, scalded and washed
1 cup parsley, scalded and washed
thyme, marjoram, savory, and sweet basil (dried)
water
coarse sea salt (to taste)

Directions

Prepare the turtle by cutting off the head and tying a stout fishing twine to the hind fins.
Immerse the turtle in a boiler of boiling water for 10 to 20 minutes, depending on its size.
Remove the horny coating and black cuticle from the neck, head, and fins.
Take off the bottom shell without splitting it to preserve the meat.
Cut the shell about 1 inch from the edge and remove the meat carefully.

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.

Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,225 recipes

Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
Marjoram + basiltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together688 recipes

Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,057 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,979 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (celery, parsley, thyme, marjoram, basil):

Carrotfits better
Parsnipfits better
Turnipfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against celery, parsley, thyme, marjoram, basil. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.