Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓
A Common Iiasii of Cold Beef or Mutton
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Remove the meat from the bones and slice it small, trimming off the brown edges.
Make the broth
Stew the trimmings with the broken bones, onion, thyme, parsley, carrot, peppercorns, cloves, salt, and water.
Reduce the mixture to about ¾ pint, then strain and remove the fat.
Thicken and serve
Thicken the strained liquid with rice flour or arrowroot, adding salt and pepper if needed.
Boil the mixture for a few minutes, then add the meat and heat it well.
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 + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Parsley + carrottop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Thyme + clovetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together4,108 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
-
Thyme + carrottop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together4,563 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
-
Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,873 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice flour or arrowroot
- Thickens the strained broth into a lightly body-rich soup as its starch swells with heat.
- Cold beef or mutton
- Provides the main meat flavour and the substance of the soup.
- Bones
- Release gelatine and savoury flavour into the broth during long stewing.
The step that matters
Thickening the strained broth. Starch must be stirred into the liquid and boiled for a few minutes so the granules swell fully; adding it to cold or unboiled liquid leaves lumps and a raw, floury taste.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, meat, onion, thyme, parsley, carrot, rice):
- Marjoramfits better
- Celeryfits better
- Cuminfits better
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, meat, onion, thyme, parsley, carrot, rice. 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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