Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Pork Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a rather hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Make a good plain pastry.
Cut the pork into very thin slices, 3 inches long and 2 inches wide.
Layer and fill
Layer the pork slices at the bottom of a pie dish.
Sprinkle some parsley, onion, pepper, and salt over the pork.
Add another layer of pork and repeat the seasoning, using nutmeg sparingly.
Continue layering until the dish is full.
Pour in the stock or water and add the ketchup.
Place a little pastry around the edge of the dish and cover with the pastry lid.
Bake
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until the pastry rises and begins to color.
Move the pie to the bottom of the oven, cover with paper, and bake for at least 2 hours.
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 + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,062 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,214 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pork loin
- Forms the main body of the pie; slow cooking turns the lean meat tender and juicy.
- Plain pastry
- Encloses the filling and forms a crisp, browned crust that holds the pie together.
- Onion
- Adds savory sweetness and aroma as it softens and mingles with the meat juices.
- Ketchup
- Adds acidity and sweetness to the seasoning and deepens the color of the juices.
The step that matters
Moving the pie to the bottom of the oven and covering it with paper. The pastry must brown without burning while the lean pork cooks through slowly. Covering with paper shields the crust from direct heat, and the low position gives the meat time to cook fully before the crust over-browns.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, parsley, pepper, nutmeg, ketchup):
- Capsicumfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, parsley, pepper, nutmeg, ketchup. 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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