Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓
Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prepare the beef by having the butcher remove the bones and secure it with twine.
Place the beef in a dripping pan on a bed of chopped vegetables: onion, carrot, turnip, parsley, thyme, and bay leaves. Do not add water to the dripping pan.
Roast
Roast the beef for about 20 minutes per pound in a clear, steady fire.
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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Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Turnip + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,842 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Carrot + thymetop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together4,563 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
- Prime beef
- Provides the main meat, which browns on the outside and firms as it cooks, setting the dish's texture.
The step that matters
Do not add water to the dripping pan. Water turns to steam in the pan and keeps the beef's surface moist, so it steams rather than browns. Dry, direct heat is what builds the browned crust and roasted flavour.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, carrot, turnip, parsley, thyme):
- Parsnipfits better
- Leekfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, turnip, parsley, thyme. 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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