Why it works: Sugar and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 37% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,579 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Dry Salting Bacon and Sides
Ingredients
Directions
For hogs weighing up to 130 lbs, use 1 bushel of fine salt, 2 pounds of brown sugar, and 1 pound of saltpeter for every 800 lbs of pork.
If the meat is large (150-200 lbs), increase salt by 1 gallon to 1 peck and adjust sugar and saltpeter accordingly.
Apply about 1 teaspoon of pulverized saltpeter on the flesh side of hams and shoulders.
Lightly apply about 1 tablespoon of sugar to the flesh surface of each piece.
If the meat is moist, no need to rub the skin side; if rigid, rub it to make it yielding.
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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Sugar + porktop 37% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,579 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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