Why it works: Pepper and sage 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 ↓
To Broil or Fry Pork Cutlets
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Cut pork into ½ inch thick cutlets and trim them neatly.
Remove some or all of the fat from the cutlets.
Season with pepper or cayenne.
Broil over a moderate fire (350°F/175°C) for 15-18 minutes.
Sprinkle with fine salt just before serving.
For frying, coat cutlets in flour and season with salt and pepper.
Serve with gravy made in the pan or with sauce Robert.
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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Pepper + sagetop 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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Egg + breadtop 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
Swap the sage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, pepper, egg, bread, flour):
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Marjoramfits about as well
- Parsleyfits about as well
- Sagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, pepper, egg, bread, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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