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 ↓
Venison Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Mince the onion and ham.
Fry them in butter.
Add vinegar, peppercorns, bay leaf, carrot, thyme, and parsley.
Cover the saucepan and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add the Espagnole sauce, port wine, and red currant jelly.
Cook for 10 minutes, then skim and strain.
Reheat, season, and serve.
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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Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Carrot + thymetop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together4,563 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + thymetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,171 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, butter, vinegar, carrot, thyme, parsley, sauce):
- Shallotfits better
- Parsnipfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against ham, butter, vinegar, carrot, thyme, parsley, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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