Name: Common Horse Spice
Ingredients: 2 cups caraway seeds; 2 cups aniseed; 2 cups coriander seeds; 4 cups turmeric; 1 cup cumin seeds; 1 cup liquorice; 1 cup ginger

Why it works: Turmeric and cumin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,698 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Common Horse Spice

Ingredients

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly until well combined.
Store in an airtight container.
Use as a spice blend for flavoring dishes.

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.

Turmeric + cumintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,698 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Coriander + cumintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,866 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Turmeric + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,776 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Coriander + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,505 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Coriander + turmerictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,253 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Caraway seeds: Adds a warm, earthy, slightly citrusy aroma that defines the blend.
Aniseed: Contributes a sweet, licorice-like aroma that carries through the blend.
Coriander seeds: Adds a bright, citrusy, floral aroma that lifts the other spices.
Turmeric: Provides earthy flavor and a strong yellow color to the blend.
Cumin seeds: Adds a warm, earthy, savory aroma typical of spice mixes.
Ginger: Adds a warm, pungent, slightly sweet aroma and gentle heat.

Swap the caraway

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (coriander, turmeric, cumin, ginger):

Cardamomfits better
Oreganofits better
Cinnamonfits better
Carawaythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against coriander, turmeric, cumin, ginger. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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.