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A Pepper Pot

A stew of mutton, pickled pork, vegetables, and lobster or crab, seasoned with salt and cayenne pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Pork and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,137 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓

A Pepper Pot

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pot

  1. Bring 3 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot.

  2. Add the cut vegetables, mutton, and pickled pork.

Simmer and finish

  1. Simmer until tender.

  2. Half an hour before serving, add the cleaned lobster or crab.

  3. If desired, add small suet dumplings to the pot.

  4. Season with salt and cayenne pepper to taste.

  5. For a variation, substitute mutton with a fowl.

  6. Add boiled rice.

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. Pork + ricetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,137 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  2. Pepper + ricetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,379 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Mutton + porktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,239 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).

  4. Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,442 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,121 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Neck of mutton
Releases rich flavour and gelatin into the broth as it simmers slowly.
Pickled pork
Adds salty, savoury depth that seasons the broth as it cooks.
Lobster or crab
Adds sweet seafood flavour and tender texture when added near the end.
Vegetables
Add body, sweetness and colour to the broth as they soften.

The step that matters

Add the lobster or crab half an hour before serving. Shellfish cooks quickly and turns firm and rubbery if overcooked, so it should go in late, just long enough to heat through and cook.

“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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