Name: Broiled Oysters with Pork
Ingredients: oysters; thin slices of pork; pepper

Why it works: Oyster and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,255 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

Broiled Oysters with Pork

Ingredients

oysters
thin slices of pork
pepper

Directions

String a hairpin-shaped wire with an oyster, then 2 thin slices of pork, and repeat until the wire is filled.
Fasten the ends of the wire into a long wooden handle.
Broil the skewers before the fire.
Serve with the pork, seasoning lightly with pepper if desired.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Oyster + porktop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,255 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,121 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Oyster + peppertop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together7,663 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).