Why it works: Pork and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,933 recipes. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓
Broiled Pork with Chili Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prepare the chili sauce in advance and in a large quantity.
Place the pork cutlets between the bars of a double gridiron.
Cook and serve
Broil the cutlets over moderate heat for about 20 minutes until browned.
Transfer the cooked cutlets to a hot platter.
Season with coarse sea salt and black pepper, then add a little butter.
Serve with a dish of chili sauce.
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 + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,933 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,121 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Pork + saucetop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,666 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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
- Pork cutlets
- Form the main body of the dish, cooking through and browning under the broiler.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a glossy finish to the hot cutlets.
- Chili sauce
- Supplies sharp, spicy flavor to offset the mild richness of the pork.
The step that matters
Broil the cutlets until browned. Broiling at moderate heat needs attention so the meat browns through the Maillard reaction without drying out. Timing matters because pork cutlets can become tough and dry if overcooked.
“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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