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
Prepare
Cut the skin of the leg of pork into squares.
Make a dressing with bread crumbs, sage, pepper, and coarse sea salt, moistened with the egg yolk.
Put the dressing under the skin of the knuckle.
Sprinkle a little sage into the cuts in the rind.
Sprinkle the leg with flour, pepper, and coarse sea salt.
Roast
Roast for about 3 hours.
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.
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Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,388 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Pork + sagetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,527 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Sage + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,115 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pork + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,371 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Leg of pork
- Provides the main meat, whose fat and connective tissue keep the roast moist during long cooking.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb moisture and fat in the dressing, giving it a soft, stuffing-like texture.
- Egg yolk
- Binds the bread crumb dressing together so it holds its shape under the skin.
- Flour
- Dusted on the surface, it helps the outer layer brown and crisp in the oven.
The step that matters
Put the dressing under the skin of the knuckle. The dressing must be packed firmly and kept in place, so it does not fall out or leave gaps. Loose stuffing can cook unevenly and dry out around the edges.
Swap the sage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, bread, pepper, egg, flour):
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Marjoramfits about as well
- Parsleyfits about as well
- Sagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, bread, pepper, egg, flour. 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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