Name: Sweet and Sour Pepper Pork
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons vegetable oil; 2 pounds pork loin, cut into 1 inch cubes; 1 teaspoon Kosher salt; 2 tablespoons butter; 1 green bell pepper, sliced; 1/2 onion, sliced; 4 cloves garlic, minced; 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour; 1/2 cup white sugar; 1/4 cup white wine; 1/4 cup red wine vinegar; 1/4 cup water; 3 tablespoons soy sauce; 2 1/2 tablespoons ketchup; 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 29,058 recipes mention both. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

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.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Pepper + garlictop 8% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together27,090 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Clove + garlictop 10% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together11,368 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned 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

Flavor stand-ins for the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, butter, pepper, onion, garlic, flour, sugar):

Thymebetter flavor fit
Parsleybetter flavor fit
Turmericbetter flavor fit
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, butter, pepper, onion, garlic, flour, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

Sweet and Sour Pepper Pork