Thyme
Also known as Thymus vulgaris, common thyme, Thymian, thym, timo, tomillo, tymianek
A woody Mediterranean herb that holds its aroma through long cooking better than almost any other, which is why it belongs in brines, brawns and pâtés rather than sprinkled in at the end.
Thyme is Thymus vulgaris, a low woody shrub of the Mediterranean scrub, and among culinary herbs it is one of the tough ones. Its aroma sits largely in thymol and carvacrol, the same phenols that carry oregano, held in a leathery little leaf that gives them up slowly. That is the practical fact that governs how it is used: where marjoram is destroyed by an hour of poaching, thyme survives it, and a sprig simmered for three hours in a brawn is still contributing at the end.
In charcuterie it belongs to the French tradition above all. It is a constant in the pâtés, terrines and rillettes, in the saucissons and the country sausages, and it is a component of the herbes de Provence and quatre épices blends that season so much French country work. It runs through the Spanish and Portuguese sausages, appears in the British sausage and pie tradition, and turns up in brines and cures across northern Europe. It is less common in the German and Polish sausage families, where marjoram occupies the herbal slot.
It has a particular affinity with pork fat and with liver, and a useful role against gaminess, which is why it partners juniper so often in game preparations. In a wet cure or a brine it is one of the few herbs worth including whole, since it will infuse steadily over the days a brine works rather than giving everything up in the first hour and then going stale.
Form and handling follow from the woody leaf. Fresh thyme is used on the stem and the stem removed afterwards, because the woody stalk is unpleasant to eat and easy to find. Dried thyme keeps its character far better than most dried herbs and is entirely legitimate rather than a compromise. Rubbed or whole-leaf dried thyme is preferable to ground, which cakes and fades. Lemon thyme is a different cultivar with a citrus note and is not a straight substitute where a formula specifies common thyme.
Doses typically run 0.5 to 2 g per kilo of meat for dried leaf. Thyme is forgiving at the top of that range in a way that clove and nutmeg are not, and the failure mode of too much is a slightly medicinal, resinous edge rather than an inedible sausage.