Why it works: Pork and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 22,121 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Breaded Pork Chops
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Flatten the pork chops with a rolling pin.
Place them in a pan and pour boiling water over them.
Cook over heat for 5 minutes, then remove and dry the chops.
Mix salt and pepper, then rub the mixture onto each chop.
Bread and fry
Dip each chop first in beaten egg, then in crushed crackers.
Fry in hot lard until golden brown.
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 + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,121 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pork + eggtop 30% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,387 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
-
Pepper + eggtop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together50,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Pepper and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 50,580 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the cracker crumbs to the pork so the coating holds during frying.
- Crushed crackers
- Form a crisp, browned crust around the chops when fried.
- Pork chops
- Provide the main protein that is flattened, cooked and coated.
The step that matters
Fry in hot lard until golden brown. Frying in hot fat browns the crumb coating quickly, which seals it to the meat. If the lard is not hot enough, the coating absorbs more fat and can turn greasy and fall off before the pork is cooked through.
“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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