Name: Pork Pies, Little Raised
Ingredients: 2 lbs. lean pork; 1 lb. all-purpose flour; 8 oz. lard; 1 teaspoon powdered sage; ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper; ¼ teaspoon black pepper; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt; 2 cups water; 1 small onion

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 ↓

Pork Pies, Little Raised

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Prepare the stock, meat, and pastry as directed in the recipe for 'Pork Pie.'

Shape and fill

Divide the pastry into small pieces and shape them into round or oval forms.
Fill each pastry with the meat mixture.
Sprinkle lightly with sage and moisten with stock.
Cover with pastry lids.

Bake and serve

Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 1 hour.
After baking, fill each pie with additional stock and serve hot or cold.

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.

Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,388 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,214 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pork + sagetop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,527 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Sage + oniontop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,628 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

All-purpose flour: Forms the pastry structure that holds the meat filling and shapes each pie.
Lard: Adds fat to the pastry, producing a short, tender texture.
Lean pork: Provides the main meat filling, cooked to become tender within the pastry.
Powdered sage: Adds a savoury, herbal aroma to the meat filling.