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Dessert

Pork Cake

A sweet cake made with pork, brown sugar, molasses, sour milk, flour, spices, and dried fruit.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Pork Cake

Why it works: Flour and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,341 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Pork Cake

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, mix the pork, brown sugar, molasses, sour milk, baking soda, flour, cream of tartar, beaten egg, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, raisins, currants, citron, and black pepper until well combined.

  2. Toss the fruit in a little flour to prevent sinking.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased baking pan.

  2. Bake for one hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

  1. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses to produce gas that lifts the batter.
Sour milk
Adds acidity that activates the baking soda and contributes moisture and tenderness.
All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that holds the batter together as it bakes.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness, moisture, and a deeper caramel flavor to the cake.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color, and a rich, slightly acidic flavor.
Egg
Binds the batter and helps give the cake structure as it sets.

The step that matters

Toss the fruit in flour before adding it to the batter. Dusting the raisins, currants, and citron in flour helps coat them so they are less likely to sink to the bottom of the heavy batter during baking.

Swap the cinnamon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, sugar, molasses, milk, flour, cream, egg):

  1. Cinnamonthe original
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Gingerfits less well
  4. Jalapenofits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, sugar, molasses, milk, flour, cream, egg. 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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