Why it works: Pork and barley work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 111 recipes. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓
To Cure Bacon in Flitches, or Whole Sides
Ingredients
Directions
Remove all lard, tail, ears, and pettitoes from the pork.
Rub the skin side of the meat thoroughly with warmed salt.
Let the pig retain animal heat or hang for 2 days to tenderize.
Turn the meat and cover the inside with a thick layer of salt mixed with a small amount of saltpetre.
Press the salt down firmly and cover the meat with a blanket.
Place a gentle weight on top and let it sit for a week, basting with brine.
After a week, rub the outside with fresh salt and cover the inside again.
Let the meat sit for 10 days, then drain it.
Roll the meat in bran or coarse barley meal and hang it in the kitchen.
Once thoroughly dry, move it to a dry place to hang until needed.
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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Pork + barleytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together111 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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