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Baked Pig

A whole pig is scored, rubbed with lard, filled with a cornmeal dressing, and baked with butter, pepper, thyme, and red pepper pods.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and thyme are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,585 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Baked Pig

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pig

  1. Score the pig in squares.

  2. Rub lard all over the pig.

Make the dressing

  1. Make a dressing by mixing 2 quarts of cornmeal with coarse sea salt and enough boiling water to form a stiff dough.

  2. Shape the dressing into pans.

  3. Bake the dressing until browned.

  4. Break up the baked dressing.

  5. Mix in ½ pound of butter, pepper, and thyme.

Stuff and bake

  1. Fill the pig with the dressing until plump.

  2. Sew the pig up.

  3. Place the pig on its knees in a pan.

  4. Add enough water to cook the pig.

  5. Add 2 red pepper pods.

  6. Turn the pig while baking.

  7. Baste frequently with the gravy.

  8. Continue to baste until done.

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.

  1. Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Butter + thymetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,758 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cornmeal
Forms the stiff dough that becomes the dressing and bulks out the stuffing.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the baked dressing, keeping it moist and flavourful.
Lard
Rubbed over the skin to add fat that helps the surface brown during baking.

The step that matters

Baste frequently and turn the pig while baking. Turning and basting spread moisture and fat over the surface so the skin cooks evenly and browns without drying out. Skipping this leaves patchy, dry skin while the interior cooks.

Swap the thyme

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Sagefits about as well
  3. Thymethe original
  4. Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper. 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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