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 ↓
Pea-meal Sox P
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the salt pork or bacon in the water.
When the meat is nearly cooked, add the pea meal and let it simmer until the meat is thoroughly done.
Skim off the fat, season with pepper, and 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.
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).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pea meal
- Thickens the broth into a soup as its starch swells and softens during simmering.
- Salt pork or bacon
- Adds fat and savory flavor to the broth as it cooks.
The step that matters
Adding the pea meal near the end of cooking. Pea meal thickens as its starch absorbs liquid and softens. Adding it only when the meat is nearly done lets it simmer long enough to cook through without scorching or clumping, and gives the pea meal time to fully soften.
“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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