Why it works: Sage and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,485 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Common Sausage-meat
Ingredients
Directions
Remove all skin, sinew, and gristle from the lean meat.
Mince the lean meat and fat as finely as possible.
In a bowl, combine the minced meat with salt, sugar, saltpetre, and mixed spices.
Mix thoroughly to create a uniform sausage mixture.
Optionally, add grated lemon peel, sage, and thyme for additional flavor.
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 + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,485 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Lemon + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,973 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Lemon + sagetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together887 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Beef + meattop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,533 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Meat + thymetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,008 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the sage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, meat, sugar, lemon, thyme):
- Marjoramfits better
- Rosemaryfits better
- Parsleyfits about as well
- Sagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, meat, sugar, lemon, thyme. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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