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How to Give a Dinner

A roast lark served in paper cases, seasoned with a warm herb mixture and garnished with parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

How to Give a Dinner

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the herbs

  1. Finely chop the aromatic herbs and mix them together.

  2. Heat the herb mixture in a small saucepan until warm.

Assemble and roast

  1. Warm the paper cases by placing them in front of the fire for a minute.

  2. Place 2 teaspoons of the herb mixture at the bottom of each paper case.

  3. Place a small roast lark on top of each herb-filled case.

  4. Roast the larks for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on their size.

Serve

  1. Serve immediately on a silver dish with parsley between the cases.

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.

  1. Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Marjoram + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  3. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Marjoram + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Aromatic herbs
Provide the main aroma and flavour that the lark absorbs during roasting.
Cayenne pepper
Adds a sharp, warming heat that balances the richness of the bird.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the bird and enhances the flavour of the herbs.

The step that matters

Roast the larks for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on their size. Small birds cook quickly, so overcooking dries the meat. Checking size and timing carefully keeps the flesh tender and juicy.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, clove, marjoram, basil, thyme, nutmeg, parsley):

  1. Winter savoryfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Sagefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, clove, marjoram, basil, thyme, nutmeg, parsley. 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.

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