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Pcncder of Fine Herbs for Fi/tvoring Soups and Sauces

A powdered blend of dried parsley, thyme, savory, marjoram, basil and lemon peel used to flavor soups and sauces.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,225 recipes mention both. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Pcncder of Fine Herbs for Fi/tvoring Soups and Sauces

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the herbs

  1. Thoroughly dry all herbs.

  2. Pound the dried herbs into a fine powder.

Blend and store

  1. Mix the powders together and sift.

  2. Bottle the mixture for storage.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Marjoram + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  3. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Thyme + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

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

What each ingredient does

Parsley
Adds a fresh, green, mild herbal aroma and body to the blend.
Lemon-thyme
Contributes a bright, citrusy thyme aroma that lifts the blend.
Summer-savory
Adds a peppery, thyme-like aroma that gives the blend depth.
Sweet marjoram
Provides a sweet, floral aroma that softens the sharper herbs.
Basil
Adds a sweet, clove-like aroma that rounds out the blend.
Lemon peel
Adds citrus aroma from its volatile oils, brightening the other herbs.

The step that matters

Thoroughly dry all herbs. Any leftover moisture can cause the powder to clump and can encourage mold during storage, and drying also concentrates the herbs' aromatic oils so the blend keeps its flavor.

Flavor stand-ins for the celery

The recipe marks celery as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (parsley, lemon, thyme, marjoram, basil):

  1. Winter savorybetter flavor fit
  2. Sagebetter flavor fit
  3. Oreganobetter flavor fit
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against parsley, lemon, thyme, marjoram, basil. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.