Why it works: Pork and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 26% of all ingredient pairs, and 4,578 recipes mention both. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tub
Clean and fumigate a powdering tub with sulfur the day before use.
Layer half of the rock salt at the bottom of the tub.
Pack the pork
Place the thickest pieces of pork on top of the salt.
Mix the remaining rock salt, sugar, and saltpetre together and layer it over the meat.
Continue layering meat and the salt mixture until all is used, filling spaces with rock salt.
Brine and cure
Boil more of the salt mixture.
Cool the boiled mixture.
Pour the cooled mixture over the meat.
Leave the pork undisturbed for at least a month for best results.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Pork + sugartop 26% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together4,578 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pork
- The meat being cured; salt draws out its moisture so it keeps longer.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and seasons it, slowing spoilage.
- Coarse sugar
- Softens the harsh edge of the salt and adds a mild sweetness.
- Saltpetre
- Helps preserve the meat and keeps its colour from turning grey during curing.
The step that matters
Cool the boiled mixture before pouring it over the meat. Pouring the brine while it is still hot can partly cook the surface of the pork and uneven penetration. Cooling it first lets it soak in evenly and cure the meat rather than cook it.
“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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