Name: Calfs-head, Rolled and Stuffed
Ingredients: 1 calf's head; 3 oz. beef suet, finely chopped; 7 oz. bread crumbs; 1 tablespoon mixed herbs (basil, marjoram, thyme, parsley), finely chopped; 1 egg; ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt; ½ cup brown sauce; ½ cup tomato sauce

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 ↓

Calfs-head, Rolled and Stuffed

Ingredients

Directions

Remove the flesh from the calf's head, starting from the lip and keeping the knife close to the bone. Set aside the tongue and brains.
Soak the head and bones in cold water while preparing the forcemeat.
Chop the beef suet finely and set aside.
Sift 6 oz. of bread crumbs through a wire sieve and reserve the rest.
Chop the herbs finely and add to the suet and bread crumbs.
Add grated lemon rind, cayenne pepper, salt, and the egg to the mixture. Mix well with a wooden spoon.
Dry the head with a clean cloth and place the forcemeat in the center.
Roll the head tightly in a clean cloth and secure both ends with string.
Place the rolled head, bones, and tongue in a large saucepan and cover with water.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,225 recipes

Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
Basil + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together688 recipes

Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,057 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Marjoram + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,979 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Basil + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,768 recipes

Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

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

Swap the basil

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, bread, marjoram, thyme, parsley, egg, pepper):

Winter savoryfits better
Sagefits better
Tarragonfits better
Basilthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, bread, marjoram, thyme, parsley, egg, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.