Why it works: Thyme and winter savory match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 780 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Another Hare Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the soup
In a stew-pan, combine the hare, allspice, mace, salt, black pepper, parsley, lemon thyme, winter savory, water, beef, ham, carrots, and onions.
Bring to a boil and let it reduce to 3 quarts.
Remove the hare and strain the soup over it.
Finish and serve
Add the port wine and bring to a boil 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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Thyme + winter savorytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together780 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
-
Allspice + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,077 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Allspice + winter savorytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together287 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Hare
- Provides the main meat and flavor that the soup is built around.
- Beef
- Adds meaty body and savory depth to the broth as it simmers.
- Onions
- Contribute sweetness and aromatic depth to the simmered broth.
- Carrots
- Add natural sweetness and body to the broth during reduction.
- Port wine
- Adds sweetness, acidity and rich aroma to the finished soup.
The step that matters
Reducing the soup to 3 quarts. Simmering concentrates the flavor of the broth as water evaporates, so the soup must be reduced gently and measured. Boiling too hard can cloud the broth and over-concentrate it, while stopping early leaves it thin and weak.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (allspice, pepper, parsley, lemon, thyme, winter savory, beef):
- Marjoramfits better
- Sagefits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against allspice, pepper, parsley, lemon, thyme, winter savory, beef. 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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