Why it works: Bread and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,964 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Bacon, Boiled
Ingredients
Directions
Place the bacon in a pot and cover it with cold water.
Gradually bring the water to a boil, skimming off any scum that forms.
Reduce the heat and let it simmer until fully cooked, about 1.5 hours for 2 pounds.
Remove the skin from the bacon and top with bread crumbs before serving.
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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Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Bacon
- Supplies the meat and fat that give the dish its body and savory flavor.
- Bread crumbs
- Add a crisp, dry topping that contrasts with the soft, tender bacon.
The step that matters
Simmer gently instead of boiling hard. A vigorous boil toughens bacon meat and can make it greasy. A gentle simmer lets the fat render slowly and the meat cook through evenly.
“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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