Name: Soup-herb Powder, or Vegetable Relish
Ingredients: 2 ounces dried parsley; 2 ounces winter savory; 2 ounces sweet marjoram; 2 ounces lemon thyme; 1 ounce lemon peel, cut thin and dried; 1 ounce sweet basil; ¼ teaspoon bay leaves (optional); ¼ teaspoon celery seed (optional)

Why it works: Marjoram and thyme 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 ↓

Soup-herb Powder, or Vegetable Relish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Dry the herbs in a warm Dutch oven until completely dried.
Pound the dried herbs in a mortar until fine.
Sift the powdered herbs through a double hair sieve.

Store

Store the powder in a tightly sealed bottle to retain fragrance and flavor.

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.

Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,225 recipes

Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
Winter savory + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together780 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Winter savory + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together455 recipes

Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
Marjoram + basiltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together688 recipes

Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked 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: Adds fresh green herbal flavor and aroma to the blended powder.
Winter savory: Contributes a peppery, aromatic flavor that gives the powder its character.
Sweet marjoram: Adds a sweet, floral aroma that rounds out the herb blend.
Lemon thyme: Provides a bright citrus-like aroma that complements the lemon peel.
Lemon peel: Supplies concentrated citrus aroma and a clean, tangy flavor.

The step that matters

Drying the herbs completely. Herbs that retain moisture will not pound into a fine powder and can spoil or lose aroma in storage. Thorough drying concentrates flavor and lets the herbs grind and sift evenly.

Swap the celery

The recipe marks celery as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (parsley, winter savory, marjoram, lemon, thyme, basil):

Sagefits better
Tarragonfits better
Oreganofits better
Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against parsley, winter savory, marjoram, lemon, thyme, basil. 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.

Lemon Sauce236 recipes

Cream of Celery Soup113 recipes

Celery Stew25 recipes

Celery Croquettes16 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

Soup-herb Powder, or Vegetable Relish