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A Boast Fig

A whole pig stuffed with a mixture of crackers, sage, savory, onion, cream, and eggs, then roasted.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Sage and summer savory match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 237 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

A Boast Fig

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut off the toes of the pig, leaving the skin long to wrap around the ends of the legs, and soak it in cold water.

  2. In a bowl, mix the powdered crackers, sage, summer savory, chopped onion, cream, eggs, pepper, and salt.

  3. Cook this mixture over low heat for 15 minutes.

  4. Remove the pig from the water, fill it with the stuffing, and sew it up.

Make the gravy

  1. Boil the liver and heart with the peppercorns.

  2. Chop the boiled liver and heart finely for the gravy.

Roast

  1. Place the pig in a roasting pan with 1 pint of water and 1 tablespoon of salt.

  2. Flour the pig well.

  3. Baste the pig with the drippings.

  4. Roast for 3 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.

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 + summer savorytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together237 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Summer savory + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together671 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Summer savory + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together299 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set when heated, binding the stuffing so it holds together inside the pig.
Powdered crackers
Absorb liquid and add bulk, giving the stuffing a soft, cohesive body.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the stuffing tender as it cooks.
Chopped onion
Contributes savory aroma and sweetness as it cooks in the stuffing.
Flour (in the method)
Helps the outside of the pig brown and form a crisp surface while roasting.

The step that matters

Cook the stuffing over low heat before filling the pig. Gentle heat sets the eggs and cream so the stuffing holds together. Stuffing that is not set can stay loose and wet inside the roast, while high heat can curdle the eggs and scorch the cream.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sage, summer savory, cream, egg, pepper):

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Turnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sage, summer savory, cream, egg, 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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