Why it works: Pork and apple are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,581 recipes. Both carry 4-heptenal, which smells creamy, biscuit. The science ↓
Roast Leg of Pork
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut through the skin of the pork in strips, half an inch apart, without cutting deeper.
Rub dripping or salad oil all over the pork before roasting.
Roast
Baste the pork well while it roasts.
When the pork is about two-thirds cooked, brush it again with oil.
Cook the pork for 20-25 minutes per pound.
Serve
Pour a little brown gravy over the pork before serving, and provide more in a tureen.
Serve with apple sauce or tomato sauce as accompaniments.
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.
-
Pork + appletop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,581 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pork leg
- Forms the main body of the roast, providing the meat that is cooked and served.
- Dripping or salad oil
- Adds fat that helps the skin and surface brown and keeps the meat from drying out.
- Brown gravy
- Adds moisture and savory flavor to the sliced pork at serving.
The step that matters
Cutting the skin in strips. Scoring the skin without cutting into the meat lets fat render and the surface crisp evenly while the inside stays juicy.
“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.
You might also like
Pork Cake107 recipes
Roast Pork82 recipes
Apple Soup33 recipes
Tomato Soup526 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.