Why it works: Apple and cider are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,238 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Pork Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the filling
Season the pork with pepper, salt, and nutmeg.
Make a paste with butter and flour.
Assemble the pie
Roll the paste thick to cover the bottom and sides of a deep dish.
Layer the pork in the dish.
Add a layer of apples.
Sprinkle sugar over the apples.
Repeat the layers until the dish is full.
Pour in the sweet cider.
Cover the pie with a thick lid of paste.
Notch and ornament the lid as desired.
Bake
Bake in a brisk oven at 400°F (200°C) until well cooked.
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.
-
Apple + cidertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,238 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Nutmeg + appletop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,790 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
What each ingredient does
- Pork
- Forms the savoury meat filling that cooks through inside the pastry.
- Butter
- Enriches the paste, adding fat that makes it tender and short.
- Flour
- Builds the paste's structure so it holds its shape as a thick crust.
- Pippin apples
- Add tart, moist fruit that balances the rich pork and sweetens the filling.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that contrasts with the savoury pork and apples.
- Sweet cider
- Adds moisture and fruity flavour that soaks into the filling as it bakes.
The step that matters
Roll the paste thick and seal the lid. A thick, intact paste case holds the juicy filling in during baking. Gaps or thin spots let cider leak out and dry the pork, and the crust must be cooked through to be safe to eat.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, pepper, butter, flour, apple, sugar, cider):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Clovefits about as well
- Nutmegthe original
- Sagefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, pepper, butter, flour, apple, sugar, cider. 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.
More pork pie recipes
You might also like
Pork Cake107 recipes
Roast Pork82 recipes
Apple Soup33 recipes
Ham in Cider10 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.