Name: Grilled Pork Chops with Fresh Plum Sauce Recipe
Cook time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt; 1 teaspoon five-spice powder; 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 4 (1-inch-thick) bone-in pork loin chops; 1 tablespoon olive oil; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 1/4 cup small-dice shallot (from about 1 medium shallot); 2 tablespoons finely chopped peeled ginger (from about 1 [2-inch] piece); 2 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped; 1 pound plums (about 3 to 4 medium plums), pitted and cut into 1-inch pieces; 1/4 cup honey; 1 tablespoon soy sauce; 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt; 1 teaspoon granulated sugar; 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Why it works: Ginger and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

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.

Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,038 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Shallot + garlictop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,000 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Shallot + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,677 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the plum

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, pork, olive, shallot, ginger, garlic, clove):

Limefits better
Lemonfits better
Avocadofits better
Plumthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, pork, olive, shallot, ginger, garlic, clove. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Pork	100g cooked	242
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Honey	1 tbsp (21g)	64
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Plum	1 medium (66g)	30
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Shallot	1 tbsp minced (10g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Grilled Pork Chops with Fresh Plum Sauce Recipe