Name: Chinese Roast Pork
Ingredients: 4 pounds bone-in pork roast; 3/4 cup soy sauce; 1/2 cup dry sherry; 1/3 cup honey; 2 cloves garlic, minced; 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger; 1 tablespoon cornstarch; 1 tablespoon water

Why it works: Clove and ginger 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 ↓

Chinese Roast Pork

Oven375°F

Time1 hour, then 1.5 hours more

Ingredients

Directions

Marinate

Marinate pork in soy sauce, honey, sherry, garlic, and ginger for approximately 8 hours.

Roast

Cook pork for 1 hour at 375°F while marinating.
Wrap in foil and cook for another 1.5 hours.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

801Calories

41 gProtein

15 gFat

116 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Pork	100g cooked	242
Honey	1 tbsp (21g)	64
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Water	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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.

Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,038 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Garlic + gingertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,402 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,368 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Honey + gingertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,163 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Pork + garlictop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,169 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

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

What each ingredient does

Soy sauce: Adds salty, savory depth and helps the surface brown.
Honey: Adds sweetness and caramelizes to give the roast a glossy, browned crust.
Dry sherry: Adds aromatic depth and helps carry the marinade flavors into the meat.
Garlic: Contributes pungent aroma that mellows during roasting.

The step that matters

Wrap in foil and cook for another 1.5 hours. The honey and soy sugars in the marinade can scorch at high oven heat. Wrapping the pork in foil shields the surface while the interior finishes cooking.

Swap the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, sauce, sherry, honey, clove, ginger):

Cinnamonfits better
Allspicefits better
Thymefits better
Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, sauce, sherry, honey, clove, ginger. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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Chinese Roast Pork