Why it works: Pepper and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓
Venison Chops
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the chops
Dip the venison chops in melted butter.
Broil over a clear fire, turning often until thoroughly cooked.
Season with pepper and coarse sea salt.
Make the sauce and serve
In a saucepan, combine hot water, currant jelly, peppercorns, and cloves.
Heat until the jelly is dissolved.
Place the chops in the saucepan for 5 minutes.
Remove the chops to a hot platter and pour the sauce over them.
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 + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Venison + curranttop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together443 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
-
Currant + clovetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,038 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
-
Venison + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together957 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + curranttop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,856 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Venison chops
- The main protein, cooked through by broiling over direct heat.
- Melted butter
- Coats the chops, adding richness and helping them brown during broiling.
- Currant jelly
- Dissolves into the hot water to sweeten and thicken the sauce slightly.
The step that matters
Broil over a clear fire, turning often until thoroughly cooked. Frequent turning promotes even cooking and browning without scorching the outside, while the interior must reach a fully cooked state for safety and tenderness.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (venison, butter, pepper, clove):
- Lemonfits better
- Red currantfits better
- Limefits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against venison, butter, pepper, clove. 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.
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