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Dessert

Pork Cake

A sweet pork cake made with raisins, sorghum, sugar, spices, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Pork Cake

Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Pork Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Mix the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

  2. In a large bowl, combine the chopped pork, raisins, sorghum, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and grated nutmeg.

  3. Pour in the boiling water and mix well.

  4. Dissolve the baking soda in a small amount of water and add it to the mixture.

  5. Gradually stir in the flour until fully combined.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased baking pan.

  2. Bake for 2 hours.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Fat salt pork
Adds richness and moisture, and melts during baking to keep the cake tender.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and natural sweetness throughout the cake.
Sorghum
Adds sweetness and a deep, molasses-like flavor with moisture.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sorghum to lift the batter and help it rise.

The step that matters

Dissolving the baking soda. Baking soda must be fully dissolved so it reacts evenly with the acidic sorghum; undissolved pockets can cause bitter spots and uneven rising.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, sorghum, sugar, cinnamon, clove, allspice, nutmeg):

  1. Raisinthe original
  2. Vanillafits about as well
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Orangefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, sorghum, sugar, cinnamon, clove, allspice, nutmeg. 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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