Why it works: Pork and potato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,667 recipes mention both. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 2Ingredients
Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Stir the dry ranch dressing packet into the sour cream in a small bowl until smooth.
Scatter the diced onion and baby carrots in the bottom of a slow cooker. Season both pork chops with salt and pepper and lay them on top.
Spoon the ranch sour cream mixture over the pork chops, cover, and cook on high for about 3 hours, until a thermometer inserted in the thickest part reads 145°F (63°C). Rest the chops 3 minutes before serving.
Meanwhile, cut the red potatoes into chunks, place them in a pot, cover with water, and boil 15 to 20 minutes until a fork slides in easily.
Drain the potatoes well. In a small pan over low heat, melt the butter with the minced garlic for about 1 minute without browning.
Mash the potatoes with the garlic butter, warm milk, salt and pepper to taste, and about two-thirds of the Parmesan until smooth.
Sprinkle the remaining Parmesan over the pork chops in the slow cooker, cover, and let it melt for about 10 minutes before serving with the mashed potatoes.
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 + potatotop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,667 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Onion + potatotop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together9,019 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Carrot + potatotop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,105 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Parmesan cheese + buttertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together4,158 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Cream + buttertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together41,494 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the carrot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ranch, cream, parmesan cheese, onion, pork, potato, butter):
- Tomatobetter flavor fit
- Chivebetter flavor fit
- Asparagusbetter flavor fit
- Carrotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against ranch, cream, parmesan cheese, onion, pork, potato, butter. 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).
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