Why it works: Pepper and sage 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 ↓
A Blade Bone of Pork, and Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
Directions
Season the blade bone of pork with salt and pepper.
Broil or roast the blade bone until cooked through.
A few minutes before removing from heat, baste with butter and sprinkle with chopped sage.
Serve the blade bone over a dish of mashed potatoes.
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 + sagetop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,388 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Pork + potatotop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,668 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Sage + potatotop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together386 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Pork + sagetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,527 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pork blade bone
- Is the main protein, cooked through by broiling or roasting.
- Butter
- Basting adds fat and richness to the surface of the meat.
- Mashed potatoes
- Serves as the base the pork rests on, adding starch and a soft texture.
Swap the sage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, pepper, butter, potato):
- Thymefits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Marjoramfits about as well
- Sagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, pepper, butter, potato. 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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