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 ↓
Roast Pork
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prepare a stuffing seasoned with onion and sage.
Cut the skin of the pork into small squares, or if skinless, sprinkle with a little fine sage.
Roast
Roast the pork, basting often.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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).
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Pork + sagetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,527 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Onion + sagetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,628 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pork
- Forms the main body of the dish, and its fat and juices keep the meat moist during roasting.
- Stuffing
- Adds moisture and flavour to the meat as it cooks.
- Onion
- Adds savoury sweetness and aroma to the stuffing.
- Sage
- Adds a fragrant, earthy aroma that complements the pork.
The step that matters
Basting often during roasting. Regular basting spreads the pan juices and fat over the surface, helping keep the meat moist and promoting even browning as the outside dries in the oven heat.
Swap the sage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, onion):
- Garlicfits better
- Thymefits better
- Cuminfits about as well
- Sagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, onion. 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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