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Rolled Neck of Pork

A pork neck rolled with sage, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, and allspice, then roasted.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sage and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 331 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Rolled Neck of Pork

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Bone the neck of pork.

  2. Mix chopped sage, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, and allspice.

  3. Spread the mixture inside the pork.

Roll and roast

  1. Roll the meat tightly and secure it with string.

  2. Roast slowly at a distance from the heat.

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. Sage + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together331 recipes

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

  2. Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Pork + sagetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,527 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  5. Pork + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,371 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

Pork neck
Provides the main meat, which becomes tender and juicy when roasted slowly.
Bread crumbs
Absorb juices from the meat and help hold the stuffing together inside the roll.
Chopped sage
Adds a savoury, aromatic herb flavour that pairs with the pork.
Allspice berries
Add a warm, peppery aroma to the stuffing.

The step that matters

Roll the meat tightly and secure it with string. A loose roll lets the stuffing fall out and leaves uneven gaps. Tight, even rolling keeps the filling in place and helps the meat cook at a uniform rate.

Swap the allspice

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

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Parsleyfits about as well
  4. Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, sage, bread, 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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