Why it works: Pork and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 37% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,579 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Pickled Pork
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the brine
Combine the coarse salt, saltpetre, coarse sugar, and coarse sea salt in a large container.
Place the pork in the brine, ensuring it is fully submerged.
Weigh down the meat with a heavy object to keep it under the brine.
Pickle
Allow the pork to pickle for 3 to 4 months before serving.
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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Pork + sugartop 37% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,579 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pork
- The main meat, which firms up and cures as it rests in the salt brine.
- Coarse salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and seasons it while slowing spoilage.
- Saltpetre
- Helps cured pork keep its pink colour and guards against spoilage over long curing.
- Coarse sugar
- Balances the sharpness of the salt and adds a mild sweetness to the meat.
- Coarse sea salt
- Adds more salt, contributing to seasoning and preservation during the long cure.
The step that matters
Keep the pork fully submerged. Any part of the meat left above the brine cures unevenly and is open to spoilage and mould over the months of pickling. The weight keeps the surface of the meat in contact with the brine throughout.
“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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