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 ↓
Sausage Rolls
Ingredients
Directions
Open the tin of canned mince-meat carefully and remove ½ pound into a bowl.
Season the mince-meat with salt and pepper.
Chop the sage leaves finely and mix them into the mince-meat.
In another bowl, combine ½ pound of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, a pinch of salt, and ½ pound of clarified dripping.
Rub the dripping into the flour until well mixed and no lumps remain.
Add enough water to form a stiff paste.
Flour a surface and turn the paste out onto it, dividing it in two.
Roll each portion into a thin sheet, about ⅛ inch thick.
Cut the paste into squares, approximately 6 inches on each side.
Gather and re-roll any scraps to make more squares.
Place about 1 tablespoon of mince-meat in the center of each square.
Fold the paste around the meat, sealing the edges with your fingers.
Grease a baking tin and arrange the sausage rolls on it.
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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Flour + sagetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,115 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,777 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
Swap the sage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, flour, pepper, egg):
- Turmericfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Sagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against meat, flour, pepper, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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