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Stuffed Shoulder of Pork

A pork shoulder stuffed with apples, onions, sage, lemon thyme, and mashed potatoes, then roasted and served with currant jelly, potatoes, and green vegetables.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Sage and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,485 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Stuffed Shoulder of Pork

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the pork

  1. Bone the shoulder of pork by cutting out the shoulder blade and leg bone.

  2. Turn the flesh over the bone as you cut, like a glove-finger on the hand.

  3. Sew up any accidental cuts to prevent stuffing from escaping.

Make and stuff

  1. In a bowl, combine the chopped apples, onions, sage, lemon thyme, and mashed potatoes.

  2. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and a little cayenne to the mixture.

  3. Stuff the shoulder with the mixture and sew up all openings.

  4. Dredge the stuffed shoulder with flour, salt, and pepper.

Roast and serve

  1. Roast in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C), allowing 20 minutes per pound.

  2. Baste frequently with hot water initially, then with gravy from the pan.

  3. Serve with currant jelly, potatoes, and green vegetables.

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.

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. Sage + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,485 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Lemon + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Sage + lemontop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together887 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Pork shoulder
Provides the main meat, whose fat and connective tissue keep the roast moist and tender during long cooking.
Apples
Add moisture and a gentle sweetness that balances the rich pork and savory stuffing.
Onions
Add savory depth and moisture to the stuffing as they soften during roasting.
White potatoes
Bind the stuffing and add body, absorbing moisture so the filling stays soft.
Sage
Adds an earthy, aromatic flavour that pairs traditionally with pork.

The step that matters

Sewing up the stuffed shoulder. Stuffing that is packed too tightly or left with gaps can burst or leak during roasting, and the filling expands as it heats. Closing all openings securely keeps the stuffing inside and helps it cook through evenly.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, onion, sage, lemon, thyme, potato, pepper):

  1. Limefits better
  2. Avocadofits better
  3. Orangefits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, onion, sage, lemon, thyme, potato, 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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