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 ↓
Herb Powder
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prepare and dry the herbs.
Pick the leaves from the stalks.
Pound the leaves and sift them through a fine sieve.
Mix and store
Mix the herbs in the specified proportions.
Store in glass bottles, ensuring they are airtight.
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 + marjoramtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,225 recipes
Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
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Thyme + winter savorytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together780 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Winter savory + marjoramtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together455 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Marjoram + basiltop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together688 recipes
Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
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Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 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
- Dried parsley
- Provides the largest share of the blend, adding mild, fresh green flavour.
- Dried lemon-thyme
- Contributes a bright, citrusy herbal aroma that carries the blend.
- Dried winter savory
- Adds a peppery, thyme-like aroma to the mixture.
- Dried sweet marjoram
- Adds a sweet, floral aroma typical of savory herb blends.
- Dried basil
- Adds a sweet, clove-like aroma to the blend.
- Dried lemon-peel
- Adds concentrated citrus aroma and a light tang.
The step that matters
Pound and sift the leaves. Dried herbs release their aroma when their cell walls are broken, so pounding finely and sifting out coarse stems gives an even powder that blends evenly and disperses flavour through the mix.
“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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