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A Hogshead of Porter

A recipe for a large batch of porter beer.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Capsicum and ginger are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,890 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

A Hogshead of Porter

Ingredients

Directions

Make the wort

  1. Mash the malt as in common brewing.

  2. Boil the hops in the same manner.

  3. Add the other ingredients while boiling.

Fine and rest

  1. Fining the porter as soon as it has finished working, unless racking off.

  2. If racking off, defer fining until that time.

  3. When adding finings, stir well and leave the bung out for 9-10 hours.

  4. Ensure the butt is not too full to allow the porter to work.

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. Capsicum + gingertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,890 recipes

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

  2. Malt + capsicumtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together110 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Malt + gingertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together93 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  4. Hops + gingertop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Hops + capsicumtop 48% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1 recipe

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

High-coloured malt
Provides the sugars for fermentation and the dark colour and roasted flavour of the porter.
Hops
Add bitterness that balances the malt sweetness and help preserve the beer.
Treacle
Adds dark colour, sweetness and a rich, molasses-like flavour.
Liquorice root
Adds sweetness and a distinctive dark, earthy flavour.

The step that matters

Leave room in the butt for working. Fermentation gives off carbon dioxide and foam while the porter works. If the butt is too full, the beer can overflow or blow out the bung, so headspace is needed while it works.

Swap the capsicum

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (malt, hops, ginger):

  1. Mustardfits about as well
  2. Potatofits about as well
  3. Capsicumthe original
  4. Broccolifits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against malt, hops, ginger. 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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