Why it works: Sage and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 507 recipes. Both carry 2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓
Sausages, to Make
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the meat
Finely chop the pork, veal, and suet together.
Add the breadcrumbs, minced lemon rind, and grated nutmeg.
Wash the sage leaves, then finely chop them.
Add the chopped sage leaves along with the remaining ingredients to the meat mixture, and mix thoroughly.
Shape and cook
Either stuff into sausage skins or form into small cakes.
Flour the cakes.
Fry them until golden brown.
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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Sage + marjoramtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together507 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Lemon + marjoramtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together957 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Nutmeg + marjoramtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together687 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Pork + beeftop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,690 recipes
Shared aroma: 12-methyltridecanal (tallowy, beefy).
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Lemon + sagetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together887 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pork
- Provides fat and flavour, keeping the sausage meat moist and tender.
- Veal
- Adds lean meat that gives a fine, delicate texture to the mixture.
- Beef suet
- Adds hard fat that melts during cooking, keeping the sausages juicy.
- Breadcrumbs
- Absorb fat and moisture, binding the mixture and giving it a softer texture.
- Sage leaves
- Contribute a savoury, aromatic herbal flavour to the meat.
The step that matters
Fry them until golden brown. Cooking over steady heat sets the proteins and browns the flour coating, while the fat in the mixture keeps the centre moist. Too much heat can leave the outside burnt before the inside is cooked through.
“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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