Name: Roast Pork
Ingredients: 1 small loin of pork; 3 tablespoons bread crumbs; 1 onion, finely chopped; ½ teaspoon chopped sage; ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt; ½ teaspoon pepper; 1 ounce chopped suet; 1 tablespoon drippings

Why it works: Sage and pepper 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 ↓

Roast Pork

Ingredients

Directions

Separate each joint of the loin with a chopper.
Make an incision in the thick part of the pork for stuffing.
Mix bread crumbs, onion, sage, pepper, salt, and suet in a bowl.
Press the stuffing mixture into the incision in the pork.
Sew the edges of the meat together with needle and thread to secure the stuffing.
Grease a sheet of kitchen paper with drippings and wrap the loin in it.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,388 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,214 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pork + sagetop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,527 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Onion + sagetop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,628 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).