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 ↓
Roast Rabbit Stuffed
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Wash the rabbit in cold water and dry it inside.
Parboil the rabbit's liver in water until it boils, then chop it into small pieces.
Rub bread crumbs through a sieve to obtain about ½ pound.
Chop the suet finely after removing the skin.
Chop the thyme, marjoram, and parsley finely to yield about 2 teaspoons.
In a bowl, combine the liver, breadcrumbs, suet, herbs, lemon rind, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and the egg. Mix well.
Stuff the rabbit with the mixture and sew it up with string.
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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Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,225 recipes
Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
-
Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
-
Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,979 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Marjoram + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together957 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 nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, bread, parsley, marjoram, thyme, lemon, pepper):
- Winter savoryfits better
- Sagefits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, bread, parsley, marjoram, thyme, lemon, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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