Name: Infusion of Spices for Turtle Soup
Ingredients: a few fresh marjoram leaves; equal quantities of thyme, basil, savory, and parsley; 2 bay leaves; 3 chopped shallots; some trimmings of fresh mushrooms (or dried mushrooms if desired); 1 pint good Madeira wine

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 ↓

Infusion of Spices for Turtle Soup

Ingredients

a few fresh marjoram leaves
equal quantities of thyme, basil, savory, and parsley
2 bay leaves
3 chopped shallots
some trimmings of fresh mushrooms (or dried mushrooms if desired)
1 pint good Madeira wine

Directions

Combine fresh marjoram, thyme, basil, savory, parsley, bay leaves, chopped shallots, and mushroom trimmings in a saucepan.
Boil 1 pint of Madeira wine and pour it over the herbs.
Cover the saucepan tightly and let it infuse for 30 minutes.
Strain the infusion through a napkin and add it to clear turtle soup.

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).
Marjoram + basiltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together688 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,057 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,979 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,768 recipes

Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

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

What each ingredient does

Madeira wine: Adds aromatic depth and body to the infusion, carrying the herb flavours into the soup.
Shallots: Contribute a mild, sweet onion flavour that rounds out the herbal infusion.
Mushrooms: Add savoury, umami depth to the infusion.

The step that matters

Covering the saucepan while infusing. Keeping the lid on traps the volatile aromatic compounds from the herbs and wine so they dissolve back into the liquid instead of escaping as steam, giving a fuller flavour.

Swap the basil

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (marjoram, thyme, parsley, shallot, mushroom, madeira wine):

Winter savoryfits better
Tarragonfits better
Sagefits about as well
Basilthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against marjoram, thyme, parsley, shallot, mushroom, madeira wine. 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.

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Infusion of Spices for Turtle Soup