Why it works: Pepper and cumin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,382 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓
Pork Sausage
Ingredients
Directions
Trim the pork and fat, removing bones and skin.
Chop the meat and fat finely using a meat grinder.
Mix in coarse sea salt, pepper, cumin seeds, bay leaves, and pot herbs.
If desired, add chopped nuts or ground liver and lungs.
Stuff the mixture into sausage casings or form into patties.
Cook thoroughly before serving.
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 + cumintop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together4,382 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Pork + livertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,606 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).
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Pork + nutstop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together67 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,121 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cumin + nutstop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the nuts
The recipe marks nuts as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, pepper, cumin, liver):
- Beansfits better
- Lentilsfits better
- Black-eyed peafits better
- Nutsthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, pepper, cumin, liver. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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