Why it works: Pepper and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Pork Chops and Steaks
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Trim the rib chops neatly.
Broil the chops over a clear fire until well done.
Place the chops on a plate and season with salt and pepper.
Cook the chops
Heat a skillet and add butter.
Salt the chops and dip them in flour or in beaten eggs and bread crumbs.
Place the chops in the skillet, cover, and cook for 15 minutes over medium heat.
Turn the meat, reduce the heat, and cook slowly for an additional 30 to 40 minutes.
If there's excess fat in the pan, pour off some.
If desired, sprinkle sage over the meat before slow cooking.
Make the gravy and serve
Leave some fat in the skillet, thicken it with flour, add milk or water, and bring to a boil.
Serve the gravy with the chops alongside cabbage salad or currant jelly.
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 + sagetop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,388 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Rib chops or steaks
- Provides the main meat, which becomes tender with slow cooking after the initial searing.
- Butter
- Adds fat to the skillet for browning the chops and flavoring the pan.
- Flour
- Forms a light coating on the chops and thickens the pan gravy.
- Eggs
- Bind the bread crumb coating so it adheres to the chops.
- Bread crumbs
- Form a crisp, browned outer crust on the chops.
The step that matters
Slow cooking after turning. Cooking gently at lower heat for 30 to 40 minutes lets the connective tissue in the meat break down and the chops stay moist, instead of drying out and toughening over high heat.
Swap the sage
The recipe marks sage as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, butter, flour, egg, bread, milk):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Sagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, butter, flour, egg, bread, milk. 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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