Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Pork Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a rather hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Make a plain pastry crust.
Slice the pork into very thin slices, 3 inches long and 2 inches wide.
Layer and assemble
Layer the pork in a pie dish, sprinkling some parsley, onion, pepper, and salt between layers.
Add a pinch of nutmeg sparingly with each layer until the dish is full.
Pour in the stock or water and add the ketchup.
Moisten the edge of the dish with a little pastry, cover with the top crust.
Bake
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until the crust rises and begins to color.
Move the pie to the bottom of the oven, cover with paper, and bake for at least 2 hours.
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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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,062 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,214 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
- Pork loin
- Forms the bulk of the filling and becomes tender during the long, slow bake.
- Plain pastry
- Encloses the filling and browns in the hot oven to form the crust.
- Stock or water
- Adds moisture that turns to steam and keeps the meat juicy while it cooks.
- Ketchup
- Adds sweetness and acidity that season the meat and deepen its flavor.
- Onion
- Adds savory sweetness and aroma as it cooks with the meat.
The step that matters
Covering the pie with paper before the long bake. Covering the crust with paper shields it from direct heat so the pastry sets and cooks through without over-browning while the meat slowly cooks.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, parsley, pepper, nutmeg, ketchup):
- Capsicumfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, parsley, pepper, nutmeg, ketchup. 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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