Why it works: Pork and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,386 recipes. Both carry 4-heptenal, which smells creamy, biscuit. The science ↓
To Fry Salt Pork
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Soak the salt pork in milk for 2 to 8 hours.
Remove the pork from the milk and roll it in Indian meal.
Fry
Fry the coated pork until golden brown.
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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Pork + milktop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,386 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Salt pork
- Provides the main meat and fat that flavours and crisps the dish when fried.
- Milk
- Soaks into the salt pork, mellowing its saltiness and keeping the meat moist.
- Indian meal (cornmeal)
- Forms a coating that fries to a golden, crisp crust.
The step that matters
Frying the coated pork until golden brown. Frying over heat that is too high can scorch the cornmeal coating before the pork is cooked through, while too low a heat leaves it greasy and pale. Steady medium heat gives an even golden crust.
“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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