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Leg of Pork with Italian Sauce

Roasted leg of pork served with Italian sauce, Brussels sprouts, and mashed potatoes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Pork and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,668 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Leg of Pork with Italian Sauce

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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

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

  2. Season the leg of pork with salt and pepper.

  3. Prepare the Italian sauce while the pork is roasting.

Roast and cook the sides

  1. Roast the pork in the oven until fully cooked, about 1.5 to 2 hours.

  2. Steam or boil the Brussels sprouts until tender.

  3. Mash the potatoes and season to taste.

Serve

  1. Serve the pork with Italian sauce, Brussels sprouts, and mashed potatoes.

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.

  1. Pork + potatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Pork + saucetop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,666 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sauce + potatotop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,073 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Pork + brussels sproutstop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together14 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Brussels sprouts + potatotop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Leg of pork
Forms the main roasted meat, which becomes tender and juicy as it cooks through slowly.
Potatoes
Starchy base that mashes into a soft, creamy side that absorbs the sauce.
Brussels sprouts
Provide a tender, slightly bitter vegetable contrast that balances the rich pork.

The step that matters

Roast the pork until fully cooked. Pork must reach a safe internal temperature throughout, and the thick leg can be underdone at the centre while the outside looks done. Checking the centre with a thermometer is the reliable way to confirm it is cooked.

Swap the brussels sprouts

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, sauce, potato):

  1. Tomatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Onionfits better
  4. Brussels sproutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, sauce, potato. 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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