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American Souse

A sauce made by simmering pig's feet and ears in water, then seasoning with vinegar, salt, cloves, allspice, and cinnamon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

American Souse

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Clean the pigs' feet and ears thoroughly.

  2. Simmer them in water for 4 to 5 hours until tender.

  3. Remove from boiling water and place in cold water.

  4. Pack the feet and ears tightly.

Make the sauce

  1. Boil the cooking liquid with an equal amount of vinegar.

  2. Season with salt, cloves, allspice, and cinnamon to taste.

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.

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.

  1. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Vinegar + allspicetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  5. Vinegar + clovetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,386 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Pigs' feet
Provide gelatin-rich collagen that softens during long simmering and sets the pickled texture.
Pigs' ears
Add collagen and chewy texture that becomes tender during long simmering.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour and helps preserve the finished sauce.

The step that matters

Simmer until tender. Collagen in the feet and ears only breaks down into gelatin with long, gentle simmering. Stopping early leaves the meat tough and the liquid too thin to set and season well.

“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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