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A simple dinner of pork chops served with mashed potatoes, sautéed onions, and thick milk for children.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Dinner

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the components

  1. Cook the pork chops in a skillet over medium heat until browned and cooked through.

  2. Boil the potatoes until tender, then drain and mash.

  3. Chop the onion and sauté in a little oil until translucent.

Serve

  1. Serve the pork chops with mashed potatoes and sautéed onions, alongside thick milk for children.

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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Pork + potatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  4. Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Pork + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,386 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 chops
Provide the main protein, which browns on the skillet surface and cooks through over medium heat.
Potatoes
Starch that softens when boiled and mashes into a smooth, soft base.
Onion
Softens and turns sweet and translucent when sautéed gently in oil.
Thick milk
Adds richness and moisture as a drink served alongside the meal.

The step that matters

Browning the pork chops. Medium heat lets the surface brown while the interior cooks through. Too high a heat can scorch the outside before the centre is done.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, potato, milk):

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Tomatofits about as well
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, potato, milk. 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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