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Sucking Pig

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Sage and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Sucking Pig

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Prepare the pig by killing it a few hours before dressing.

  2. Position the pig on the spit with the thicker shoulder end closer to the fire.

  3. Wipe the pig with a dry cloth continuously until removed from the spit.

  4. For stuffing, slice the French rolls and butter them.

  5. Sprinkle salt, chopped sage, and cream between the slices, then soak for an hour.

  6. Stuff the mixture inside the pig and sew it up.

  7. Roast the pig for about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

  8. Prepare the sauce by mixing bechamel sauce with cream, chopped sage, pepper, and salt, then heat until boiling.

  9. Serve the sauce separately from the pig.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

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.

  1. Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

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

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Butter + sagetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,312 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

Swap the sage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, cream, sauce, pepper):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Sagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, cream, sauce, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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