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Common Horse Spice

A dry spice mixture of caraway, aniseed, coriander, turmeric, cumin, liquorice and ginger, intended for horses.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly until well combined.

  2. Store in an airtight container.

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. Turmeric + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,698 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Coriander + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,866 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Turmeric + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Coriander + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,505 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  5. 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
Provides a warm, earthy aroma that defines the spice blend's flavour.
Aniseed
Adds a sweet, licorice-like aroma that rounds out the blend.
Coriander seeds
Contributes a citrusy, floral aroma that brightens the mix.
Turmeric
Gives the blend its yellow colour and a mildly bitter, earthy flavour.
Cumin seeds
Adds a warm, savoury aroma that gives the blend depth.

Swap the caraway

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

  1. Cardamomfits better
  2. Oreganofits better
  3. Cinnamonfits better
  4. 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.