Name: Lomo De Cerdo a LA Caucana
Ingredients: 2 lbs. pork loin, boned; 5 cups whole milk; ¼ cup fresh lemon juice; 1 onion, finely chopped; 1 clove garlic, chopped; 3 tablespoons unsalted butter; Salt, freshly ground pepper

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

Lomo De Cerdo a LA Caucana

Oven350°F

Timeabout 2 hours

Ingredients

Directions

Marinate

Put the pork into a casserole or ovenproof baking dish that will hold it comfortably and pour over it the milk and lemon juice mixed together.
Cover the dish with a cloth and leave the pork overnight in a cool place.
When ready to cook, lift the pork out of the milk mixture and pat it dry with paper towels.

Cook and bake

Season the pork with salt and pepper.
In a frying pan, heat the butter and sauté the pork until it is very lightly browned all over.
Lift the pork back into the dish with the milk mixture.
In the butter remaining in the pan, sauté the onion and garlic until the onion is soft.
Add the contents of the frying pan to the baking dish, scraping up any pan drippings.
Bake the pork, uncovered, in a preheated 350°F oven for about 2 hours or until the pork is tender.

Make the sauce and serve

Lift the pork out onto a warmed serving platter and remove any string tying it. Cover and keep warm.
Skim any fat from the sauce.
Over brisk heat, reduce the sauce to 1 ½ cups, stirring from time to time.
Taste the sauce for seasoning and add a little salt if necessary.
Slice the pork and serve hot with rice and a green vegetable. Serve the sauce separately. The pork is also good cold with salad.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

559Calories

37 gProtein

34 gFat

28 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 8 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Pork	100g cooked	242
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	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.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Garlic + peppertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,090 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Pork loin: Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender during the long, gentle baking.
Whole milk: Its proteins and sugars soften the meat and help build a mild, savoury sauce as it reduces.
Lemon juice: Acidity works with the milk to tenderise the pork and brightens the finished sauce.
Onion: Softened in butter, it adds sweetness and aroma to the sauce.
Unsalted butter: Fat for browning the pork and cooking the onion, adding richness and flavour.

The step that matters

Reducing the sauce over brisk heat. Milk can scorch and split on high heat, so stir often and watch closely; the sauce thickens and darkens as the liquid evaporates and the milk proteins and sugars concentrate.

Swap the lemon

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

Avocadofits about as well
Mangofits about as well
Coconutfits about as well
Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, milk, onion, clove, garlic, butter, pepper. 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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Lomo De Cerdo a LA Caucana