Why it works: Pepper and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Pork Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Season the pork with pepper, salt, and nutmeg.
Make a paste with butter and flour, rolling it out thick.
Assemble the pie
Cover the bottom and sides of a deep dish with the paste.
Layer the pork and apples in the dish, sprinkling sugar over the apples.
Continue layering until the dish is full.
Pour in water or white wine.
Cover the pie with a thick lid of paste, notching and ornamenting it as desired.
Bake
Bake in the preheated oven until well cooked.
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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Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Apple + white winetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together372 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Butter + white winetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,083 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Butter
- Enriches the paste, adding fat that makes it tender and short.
- Flour
- Forms the paste's structure, holding the pie together as it bakes.
- Fresh pork
- Forms the main filling, cooking through in the oven to become tender.
- Pippin apples
- Add tartness and moisture, softening into the filling as the pie bakes.
The step that matters
Pour in water or white wine. Liquid added before baking creates steam and moisture that keeps the pork from drying out. Too little liquid can leave the filling dry, so the amount matters for a juicy result.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, pepper, nutmeg, butter, flour, sugar, white wine):
- Lemonfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Raisinfits about as well
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, pepper, nutmeg, butter, flour, sugar, white wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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