Name: Caribbean Sticky Spare Ribs
Ingredients: Preparation Time: 15 minutes; Cooking Time: 45 minutes; Serves: 6-8; 500g Bramley apples, quartered and cored,; 2 tbsp vegetable oil,; 1 red onion, chopped,; 2cm piece root ginger, peeled and grated,; 3 tsp jerk spice mix,; 3 tbsp tomato ketchup,; 2 tbsp black treacle,; 300ml pineapple juice,; 1kg 2lb 2oz pork spare ribs,; salt and ground black pepper.

Why it works: Apple and pineapple match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 530 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. 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.

Apple + pineappletop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together530 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ginger + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,800 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + gingertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,595 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

What each ingredient does

Bramley apples: Break down into the sauce, adding tartness and body as they soften.
Black treacle: Adds deep sweetness and a dark, glossy colour to the sauce and ribs.
Tomato ketchup: Adds sweetness, acidity and body, helping the sauce thicken and cling to the ribs.
Pork spare ribs: Provide the meat, whose collagen softens during simmering to become tender.
Pineapple juice: Adds fruity sweetness and liquid that reduces into the glaze.

The step that matters

Lifting the ribs before the final grill. Sauce reduced during simmering contains lots of sugar from the treacle and juice, which can burn quickly under a hot grill. Brushing with more sauce and watching closely keeps the glaze caramelised rather than charred.

Swap the pineapple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, onion, ginger, tomato, ketchup, pork, pepper):

Limefits better
Mangofits better
Lemonfits better
Pineapplethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, onion, ginger, tomato, ketchup, pork, 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Pork	100g cooked	242
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Apple	1 medium (182g)	95
Pineapple	1 cup chunks (165g)	82
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Caribbean Sticky Spare Ribs