Name: Savory Herb Powder
Ingredients: parsley; savory; thyme; sweet marjoram; shallot; chervil; sage

Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Savory Herb Powder

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Select equal quantities of parsley, savory, thyme, sweet marjoram, shallot, chervil, and sage.

Dry and grind

Dry the herbs in a 300°F (150°C) oven.
Pound the dried herbs finely.

Store

Store the powder in well‑stopped bottles.

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.

Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,225 recipes

Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
Shallot + cherviltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together266 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Marjoram + sagetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together507 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Thyme + sagetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,485 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,057 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

Parsley: Adds a fresh, green aroma and mild flavor to the powder.
Savory: Contributes a peppery, aromatic flavor that defines the blend.
Thyme: Adds a warm, earthy aroma that carries well after drying.
Sweet marjoram: Provides a sweet, floral aroma that rounds out the herb mix.
Chervil: Contributes a delicate, anise-like aroma that fades easily, so it is dried gently.
Sage: Adds a strong, resinous aroma that gives the blend depth.

The step that matters

Dry the herbs in a 300°F (150°C) oven. Low, gentle heat dries the herbs without scorching them, and herbs must be fully dry before pounding and storing. Residual moisture can make the powder clump or spoil in the bottle, while higher heat can darken or burn the leaves and dull their flavor.

Swap the sage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (parsley, thyme, marjoram, shallot, chervil):

Tarragonfits better
Winter savoryfits better
Capersfits better
Sagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against parsley, thyme, marjoram, shallot, chervil. 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.