Why it works: Pepper and orange match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,402 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓
The Real Lyons Sausage
Ingredients
Directions
Finely chop the pork in a mincing machine or beat in a mortar until it forms a compact paste.
Add the pig's fat to the meat mixture.
For every 23 pounds of the mixture, add the salt, ground pepper, whole pepper, powdered sugar, spices, and optional curaçao or rum.
Mix thoroughly until well combined.
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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Pepper + orangetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,402 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Rum + orangetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together801 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + rumtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,908 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,121 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and orange barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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
Swap the orange
The recipe marks orange as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, pepper, sugar, rum):
- Mangofits better
- Pineapplefits better
- Applefits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, pepper, sugar, rum. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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