Why it works: Pork and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 37% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,579 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Pickle for Pork
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cure
Mix saltpetre, sugar, and coarse sea salt in a large container.
Cure the pork
Rub the mixture thoroughly over the pork.
Allow the pork to cure in a cool place for the recommended time.
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 + sugartop 37% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,579 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pork
- The main meat, which the cure penetrates and firms as it cures.
- Saltpetre
- Curing agent that helps preserve the meat and keeps it a pink, cured color.
- Sugar
- Balances the sharpness of the salt and adds a mild sweetness.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and seasons it while helping preserve it.
The step that matters
Allow the pork to cure in a cool place. Cool temperatures slow the growth of spoilage bacteria while the salt and saltpetre work through the meat. Keeping the pork cold lets the cure act evenly and safely over the full curing period.
“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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