Why it works: Pepper and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Pork Chops
Ingredients
Directions
Wash and trim the pork chops, removing skin and fat.
Heat a frying pan and add a little salt pork fat or butter.
Cook the chops slowly until well done.
Transfer the chops to a hot dish.
In the same pan, add flour to absorb the fat and cook until brown.
Add hot water to achieve the right consistency for the gravy.
Season the gravy with salt, pepper, strained tomato, and a little sugar.
Cook the gravy for 5 minutes, then pour it over the chops and serve hot.
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 + tomatotop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pork + tomatotop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,121 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, flour, pepper, sugar):
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Potatofits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, flour, pepper, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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