Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
To Cure Pork
Ingredients
Directions
Cure
Combine coarse sea salt, brown sugar, saltpeter, and ground pepper in a bowl; mix thoroughly.
Divide the mixture in half and rub half onto the pork.
Place the pork pieces on a board, one inch apart, in a cool area.
After 10 days, rub the remaining mixture onto the pork and hang it to smoke.
Smoke and finish
For the first smoke, use 1 ounce of sulfur with hickory wood.
After smoking, smear the pork with sorghum molasses and sprinkle with black pepper.
Let it hang all summer.
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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Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Pepper + sorghumtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,121 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Sorghum + molassestop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together61 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sugar + sorghumtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together78 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws out moisture and seasons the pork, helping preserve it during curing.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the salt's sharpness in the cure.
- Saltpeter (in the method)
- Helps preserve the meat and keeps its color during curing.
- Pork
- The main meat being cured, dried and smoked over time.
The step that matters
Dividing and rubbing the cure in two stages. Salt must penetrate the meat evenly; applying the cure in two rounds spreads it through thick pieces and reduces the risk of uneven curing at the surface.
“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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