Why it works: Parsley and thyme 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 ↓
Raised Chicken Pie
Ingredients
Directions
In a stewpan, combine chicken, butter, lemon juice, pepper, salt, parsley, thyme, shallots, and mace.
Cook until the chicken is half done, then transfer to a dish and let cool.
Prepare the crust and place light forcemeat at the bottom.
Add the chicken on top of the forcemeat and more forcemeat around the edges.
Cover the pie and bake gently.
When serving, cut off the lid and add a ragout of sweetbreads and cocks' combs.
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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Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 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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Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,737 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Thyme + shallottop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,476 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, butter, lemon, pepper, parsley, thyme, shallot):
- Marjoramfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Winter savoryfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, butter, lemon, pepper, parsley, thyme, shallot. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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