Name: Hodge-Podge, K l’Ecossaise
Ingredients: assorted meats (fowl, mutton, etc.); vegetables (carrots, potatoes, etc.); herbs (parsley, thyme, etc.); water or broth; salt; pepper

Why it works: Parsley and thyme 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 ↓

Hodge-Podge, K l’Ecossaise

Ingredients

Directions

In a large pot, combine assorted meats and cover with water or broth.
Add chopped vegetables and herbs.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Simmer until the meats are tender and the vegetables are cooked through.
Serve hot.

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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,057 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,053 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Carrot + thymetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,563 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,585 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, mutton, carrot, parsley, thyme, pepper):

Parsnipfits about as well
Shallotfits about as well
Turnipfits about as well
Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, mutton, carrot, parsley, thyme, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.