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 ↓
Game Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Bone the hare or other game.
Add bacon or suet, parsley, thyme, basil, shallots, garlic, spices, pepper, salt, Port wine, and lemon juice.
Cook over a fire for 10 minutes.
Pound the mixture in a mortar.
Mix in the crumbled rolls, cream, and egg yolks.
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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Thyme + basiltop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,768 recipes
Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
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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).
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Parsley + basiltop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,351 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, parsley, thyme, basil, shallot, garlic, pepper):
- Marjoramfits better
- Winter savoryfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, parsley, thyme, basil, shallot, garlic, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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