Name: Head Cheese
Ingredients: ears of a hog; head of a hog; feet of a hog; coarse sea salt; black pepper; sage; vinegar

Why it works: Pepper and sage 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 ↓

Head Cheese

Ingredients

Directions

Clean the ears, head, and feet of the hog thoroughly.
Boil the cleaned parts until very tender, adding a little coarse sea salt.
Remove from the pot and chop the meat finely.
Season the chopped meat with salt, black pepper, and sage to taste.
Pack the seasoned meat into molds and let it cool.
Once cooled, slice and store in vinegar.

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.

Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,388 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Sage + vinegartop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together618 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).