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 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 by 2 inches wide.
Layer and season
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 hot oven (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.
-
Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
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).
-
Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
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 filling; slices cooked through in the dish become tender and juicy.
- Onion
- Adds aromatic sweetness and savory depth to the pork filling.
- Ketchup
- Adds acidity and sweetness that season the stock and help the filling taste rounded.
- Plain pastry
- Forms the enclosing crust that holds in moisture and browns during baking.
The step that matters
Move the pie to the bottom of the oven and cover with paper. Lower placement shields the pastry from direct heat so the base cooks through without over-browning, while the paper slows surface browning during the long bake so the pork has time to cook through gently.
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.
More pork pie recipes
You might also like
Pork Cake107 recipes
Roast Pork82 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.