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Jamie's Old English Christmas Rub

I knock this rub together every Christmas and it never lets me down. It's dead easy, only takes a few minutes to make and adds a brilliant Christmassy flavour to all my roast meats and veg. Try a good pinch of it on your Christmas roasties!

By jamieoliver · From Open Recipes · 10 ingredients
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Jamie's Old English Christmas Rub

Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Jamie's Old English Christmas Rub

Serves 8

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

134Calories
3 gProtein
2 gFat
32 gCarbs

Counts 10 of 11 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Fennel1/2 bulb (87g)27
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Allspice1 tsp ground (1.9g)5
Rosemary1 tsp dried (1.2g)4
Thyme1 tsp dried (1.4g)4
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Seednot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By jamieoliver. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

  1. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Rosemary + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Fennel + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together337 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, allspice, fennel, cinnamon, rosemary, thyme, nutmeg):

  1. Limefits better
  2. Orangethe original
  3. Figfits less well
  4. Cherryfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, allspice, fennel, cinnamon, rosemary, thyme, nutmeg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.