Why it works: Pork and apple are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,581 recipes. Both carry 4-heptenal, which smells creamy, biscuit. The science ↓
Pork , Roast Leg of
Ingredients
Directions
Roast
Score the skin of the leg of pork in ¼ inch wide cuts.
Roast the pork at a distance from the fire for 3 hours, basting frequently.
Finish and serve
About 15 minutes before serving, move the pork closer to the fire to brown and crisp it.
Pour ¾ pint of brown gravy over the pork before serving.
Serve with Apple Sauce or Brown Chestnut 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.
-
Pork + appletop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,581 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
- Leg of pork
- The main meat; slow roasting makes it tender while its skin crisps at the end.
- Brown gravy
- Adds moisture and savoury flavour to the sliced pork at serving.
The step that matters
Moving the pork closer to the fire to crisp it. Crisp skin needs dry, high heat, which would dry out the meat if used for the whole roast. Brief high heat near the end lets the skin puff and brown while the basted meat stays juicy.
“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.
You might also like
Pork Cake107 recipes
Roast Pork82 recipes
Apple Soup33 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.