Why it works: Pork and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,214 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Pork, Roast Leg of
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Choose a small leg of pork and score the skin in narrow strips, about ½ inch apart.
Cut a slit in the knuckle, loosen the skin, and fill it with sage and onion stuffing.
Brush the joint with a little salad oil to make the crackling crisper.
Roast and serve
Roast it over a bright, clear fire, not too close to avoid blistering the skin.
Baste well and serve with gravy made in the dripping pan and a tureen of well-made apple sauce.
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.
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Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,214 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
- Pork leg
- Provides the main meat, whose skin crisps into crackling when roasted.
- Salad oil
- Coats the skin to help it brown and crisp during roasting.
- Sage and onion stuffing
- Fills the knuckle slit, adding aroma and moisture to the meat as it cooks.
The step that matters
Roasting distance and heat. Roasting too close to a hot fire can blister and scorch the skin before the meat cooks through. A bright, clear, moderate heat lets the skin dry and crisp evenly while the inside cooks gently.
“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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