Why it works: Sage and pepper 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 ↓
To Roast Sucking-pig
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the pig
Cut off the feet of the pig.
Fill the inside of the pig with a stuffing made of chopped sage, crumbs of bread, butter, pepper, and coarse sea salt. Mix the stuffing.
Fill the pig with the stuffing.
Sew up the slit without skewering.
Roast and baste
Roast the pig at 400°F (200°C).
Baste the pig with butter for 2 to 3 hours.
Roast until the skin is crisp and browned.
Carve and serve
Before serving, split the pig down the back from head to tail.
Lay it flat with the skin side up.
Cut off the head.
Split the head in two.
Place a half of the head at each end.
Remove the brains.
Mix the brains with the liver (previously boiled and finely chopped) in a small tureen with beef or veal gravy.
Serve with apple sauce.
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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Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,388 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Sage + appletop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together755 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Bread + beeftop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,032 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sucking pig
- Is the main meat, whose skin crisps and whose body cooks through during roasting.
- Crumbs of bread
- Fill the cavity as a stuffing that absorbs the juices and keeps the inside moist.
- Butter
- Basting fat that helps the skin brown and crisp while the pig roasts.
- Chopped sage
- Adds aromatic herbal flavour to the stuffing.
The step that matters
Roast until the skin is crisp and browned. Skin needs dry, sustained oven heat and regular butter basting to brown and crisp. Moisture on the skin or too little heat leaves it soft, while the meat keeps cooking inside.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sage, bread, butter, pepper, beef, sauce):
- Lemonfits better
- Limefits better
- Figfits about as well
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sage, bread, butter, pepper, beef, sauce. 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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