Why it works: Pork and meat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,208 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Pigs Head Stuffed
Ingredients
Directions
Select a perfect pig's head with good ears and cut it off with two or three joints of the neck bone left on.
Bone the head and wash it in cold water to remove all blood.
Soak the head in a spiced pickle for six days, then wash it again.
Stuff the head tightly with pork sausage meat and stitch a piece of rind on the back to keep the stuffing in.
Place the head on a thin board, tie it in position with pieces alongside each cheek to maintain its shape.
Wrap the whole head in a cloth and cook gently until thoroughly cooked without breaking the ears.
Allow to cool in a position that keeps the ears erect.
When cool, insert glass eyes and tusks if available, then glaze and decorate.
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.
-
Pork + meattop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,208 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
You might also like
Pork Cake107 recipes
Roast Pork82 recipes
Meat Croquettes52 recipes
Meatballs37 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.