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 ↓
Venison or Roebuck
Ingredients
Directions
Lard the haunch or quarter of roebuck.
Let it steep in oil with onions, coarse sea salt, black pepper, spices, thyme, and red wine for one to two days.
Put the meat on a spit to roast.
Baste it with the marinade it was steeped in.
Serve with sauce poivrade.
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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Onion + thymetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,171 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Thyme + red winetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together749 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + red winetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,075 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, thyme, red wine):
- Tomatofits better
- Shallotfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, thyme, red wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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