Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Roast Pig
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the pig thoroughly inside and out, then wipe dry with a towel.
Salt the inside of the pig.
Stuff the pig with a rich fowl dressing to make it plump.
Sew the pig up and place it in a kneeling posture in a dripping pan.
Salt and pepper the outside of the pig.
Pour a little water into the dripping pan.
Roast
Baste the pig with butter and water a few times as it warms.
Baste the pig with gravy from the pan.
Roast the pig for 2 to 3 hours.
Make the gravy
Skim off most of the grease from the pan, stir in flour, and add water to achieve the right consistency to make the gravy.
Season the gravy and let it boil once, then strain it into a gravy dish.
Serve
Place the pig on a large platter surrounded with parsley and serve hot.
When carving, cut off the head first, then split the back, remove the hams and shoulders, and separate the ribs.
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.
-
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
-
Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Pig
- Provides the whole roast as the main body of the dish, cooked through by slow heat.
- Butter
- Adds fat that helps the skin brown and gives the basting liquid richness.
- Flour
- Thickens the pan drippings into a smooth gravy when stirred in with the fat.
The step that matters
Basting the pig as it warms. Basting with butter and water keeps the surface moist and helps it brown evenly rather than drying or scorching during the long roast.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, butter, flour):
- Parsleythe original
- Turmericfits about as well
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Sagefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, butter, flour. 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 roast pig recipes
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 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.