Why it works: Onion and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,214 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Pork Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 300°F (150°C).
Line a large 6-quart pan with pie crust.
Layer the pie
Layer the bottom with sliced onions.
Add a layer of browned salt pork.
Place a layer of peeled apples and sprinkle with brown sugar.
Repeat the layers of onions, pork, and apples until the pan is full.
Cover and bake
Wet the edges of the crust and place the top crust on, perforating it.
Bake for at least 4 hours, longer if possible.
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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Onion + porktop 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 + appletop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,581 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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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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Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Salt pork
- Adds savory fat and meaty flavor that renders into the layers during baking.
- Apples
- Provide moisture and tart sweetness that soften into the filling as it bakes.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and caramel notes that deepen as the apples cook.
- Onion
- Contributes aromatic sweetness and moisture that softens during the long bake.
The step that matters
Long, slow bake. Baking at a low 300°F for at least four hours lets the pork fat render and the apples and onions soften fully. Cutting the bake short leaves the filling underdone and the pork tough.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, apple, sugar, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatofits better
- Mustardfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, apple, sugar, pepper. 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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