Why it works: Sage and pepper 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 ↓
Roast Pig
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the stuffing
Soak the light bread in milk.
Boil the sage and onions in plenty of water.
Strain the sage and onions and chop finely.
Press the milk from the bread.
Mix the sage and onion with pepper and coarse sea salt.
Add the yolk of an egg to the bread to bind it.
Stuff the mixture inside the pig.
Roast the pig
Rub the pig with milk and butter.
Wrap the pig in paper.
Roast the pig until it is a beautiful brown.
Before removing from the spit, cut off the head and down the back to avoid breaking the skin.
Remove the spit.
Make the sauce and serve
Cut off the ears from the head.
Crack the bone to take out the brains.
In a stewpan, combine the brains with all the inside stuffing and a little brown sauce.
Dish the pig with the back side up, place the sauce in the middle, and serve some in a boat with the ears at each end.
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.
-
Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,388 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
-
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Light bread
- Soaked in milk and pressed, it forms the moist body of the stuffing.
- Milk
- Softens the bread for the stuffing and adds moisture and browning to the skin.
- Sage
- Adds a savoury, aromatic herb flavour to the stuffing.
- Onions
- Boiled and chopped, they add sweetness and savoury depth to the stuffing.
- 1 egg
- The yolk binds the bread and seasonings into a cohesive stuffing.
- Butter
- Rubbed on the pig, it adds fat for richness and helps the skin brown.
The step that matters
Roast the pig until it is a beautiful brown. The skin browns through dry heat as surface sugars and proteins react. Wrapping and rubbing with milk and butter help control colour, so the cook should watch for even browning rather than rely on time alone.
Swap the sage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, milk, onion, pepper, egg, butter, sauce):
- Parsleyfits better
- Capersfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Sagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, milk, onion, pepper, egg, butter, sauce. 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
Brown Bread461 recipes
White Bread80 recipes
Bread Omelette60 recipes
Oatmeal Bread51 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.