Why it works: Sage and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 507 recipes. Both carry 2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓
Roast Goose
Ingredients
Directions
Clean and truss the goose.
If the goose is old, boil it for 30 minutes wrapped in a clean cloth.
Stuff the goose with bread crumbs mixed with butter, pepper, salt, and sage.
Dot the goose with drippings or lard.
Baste the goose frequently while baking.
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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Sage + marjoramtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together507 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Pepper + marjoramtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,609 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,388 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Potato + marjoramtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together135 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the potato
The recipe marks potato as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, pepper, sage, marjoram, apple):
- Capsicumfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Parsnipfits about as well
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, pepper, sage, marjoram, apple. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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