Why it works: Pepper and thyme are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,585 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Steak Puddings
Ingredients
Directions
Heat the butter in a sauté pan.
Season the beef with pepper, salt, thyme, and bay leaves, then add to the pan.
Cook until half done, then let cool completely.
Dust each piece of beef with flour.
Layer the beef in a basin with bacon slices.
Finish preparing the pudding and boil for 2 hours.
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.
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Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,585 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Thyme + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,721 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + thymetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,758 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the thyme
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper, flour):
- Parsleyfits better
- Turmericfits about as well
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Thymethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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