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From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,225 recipes mention both. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Prepare the beef three days in advance if serving cold. Remove the bone and secure the opening with skewers and kitchen twine.

  2. Rub the beef all over with salt. Chop the marrow and suet together.

  3. Grind the spices and chop the pot herbs finely. Powder the sweet marjoram and sweet basil, ensuring you have at least 4 tablespoons of each.

  4. Mix the spices, salt, and pepper with the chopped herbs.

  5. Cut the bacon or pork fat into ¼-inch thick, 2-inch long pieces. Make deep incisions in the beef, close together.

  6. Stuff each incision with seasoning and a piece of bacon, pressing down firmly. Pour a little wine into each hole.

  7. Repeat the stuffing process on the other side of the beef.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Marjoram + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  3. Beef + porktop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together5,669 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethylphenol (must).

  4. Thyme + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  5. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

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

  1. Carrotbetter flavor fit
  2. Potatobetter flavor fit
  3. Tomatobetter flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pork, parsley, thyme, marjoram, basil, nutmeg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

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