Why it works: Thyme and basil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,768 recipes mention both. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
In a stewpan, melt the butter and add the ham, shallots, parsley, young onions, garlic, thyme, basil, and bay leaf.
Cook on low heat for 15 minutes until softened.
Add the milk and bring to a boil, then reduce to half.
Strain the mixture and return it to the pan.
Stir in the bread crumbs and cook until they absorb all the milk.
In a bowl, mix the fresh pork fillets, caul, petit lard, veal fraise, egg yolks, fine spices, and salt.
Fill the puddings with the mixture, tie them, and cook in equal parts milk and broth with salt, pepper, parsley, and young onions.
Serve as directed.
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.
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Thyme + basiltop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,768 recipes
Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
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Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together29,030 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Parsley + basiltop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,351 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Shallot + parsleytop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together3,718 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the shallot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, ham, parsley, onion, garlic, thyme, basil):
- Potatobetter flavor fit
- Tomatobetter flavor fit
- Carrotbetter flavor fit
- Shallotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, ham, parsley, onion, garlic, thyme, basil. 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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