Why it works: Sage and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
In a bowl, mix the chopped pork, onion, sage, soaked bread, salt, pepper, and beaten eggs thoroughly.
Form the mixture into small flat cakes.
Coat each cake in flour or crumbs.
Fry and serve
Heat lard in a pan and fry the cakes until golden brown.
Serve hot.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,388 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,214 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pork + sagetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,527 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Onion + sagetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,628 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture so the cakes hold their shape when formed and fried.
- Bread
- Soaked bread adds moisture, keeping the filling tender rather than dry.
- Raw pork
- Forms the main body of the cakes, providing the savory meat flavor and structure.
- Flour or crumbs
- Coating forms a crisp, browned surface when the cakes are fried.
The step that matters
Frying the cakes until golden brown. Fry in enough hot lard to cook the pork fully through while the coating browns. Too little heat leaves the coating greasy and pale, and too much browns the outside before the centre is cooked.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, sage, bread, pepper, egg, flour):
- Capsicumfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, sage, bread, pepper, egg, flour. 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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