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Guinisa of Pork

A Filipino pork stew with squash, tomato, onion, peanuts, and lard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,633 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Guinisa of Pork

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a large pot, heat lard over medium heat.

  2. Add chopped onion and sauté until translucent.

  3. Stir in diced pork and cook until browned.

  4. Add chopped tomato, squash, and peanuts.

  5. Season to taste and simmer until vegetables are tender.

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. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Onion + peanuttop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,043 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Tomato + peanuttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together315 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Pork + peanuttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together176 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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
Browns in the lard to build savory flavor and provides the stew's protein and body.
Squash
Softens during simmering, thickening the broth slightly and adding natural sweetness.
Tomato
Breaks down into the broth, adding acidity and body to the stew.
Onion
Softens and sweetens as it sautés, forming the aromatic base of the stew.
Peanuts
Add richness and a nutty flavor, and help thicken the sauce as they break down.
Lard
Carries heat and adds fat for browning the onion and pork and rich flavor.

The step that matters

Brown the pork in the lard. Searing the pork over medium heat creates browned surfaces through the Maillard reaction, which adds deep savory flavor. Crowding the pot or stirring too early can steam the meat instead, leaving it grey and less flavorful.

Swap the peanut

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

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Sesamefits better
  3. Black-eyed peafits about as well
  4. Peanutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, tomato, onion. 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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