Why it works: Sage and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Poor Man’s Goose and Apple Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Wash and peel the potatoes.
Parboil the potatoes for 10 minutes.
Strain and dry the potatoes.
Peel and parboil the onions.
Chop the onions.
Slice the potatoes.
Wash the liver.
Cut the liver into thin slices.
Mix the sage, salt and pepper on a plate.
Dip the liver slices in the mixture.
Assemble and bake
Grease a pie dish.
Layer the potatoes, onions and liver until the dish is full.
Top with a layer of potatoes.
Half fill the dish with cold water or stock.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 1 hour.
Make the apple sauce and serve
For the apple sauce, peel, core and slice the apples.
Combine the apples, sugar, cloves and cold water in a bowl and cover tightly.
Cook in the oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 30 minutes until the apples can be mashed.
Remove the cloves.
Serve the apple sauce with the dish.
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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Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,388 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Sage + appletop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together755 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 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
- Potatoes
- Starch that softens as it bakes and absorbs juices, giving the layers body.
- Pig's fry
- Dense, rich meat that browns in the oven and flavours the whole dish.
- Onions
- Soften and sweeten as they cook, adding savoury depth to the layers.
- Apples
- Natural pectin and acid break down with heat, so they mash into a smooth sauce.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the apples and balances their tartness.
The step that matters
Cook the apples until they mash. Apples hold their shape until their pectin and cell walls soften with heat. Stopping too early leaves lumps, while overcooking turns them mushy and dull in flavour.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, onion, sage, pepper, sugar):
- Lemonfits better
- Limefits better
- Cherryfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against potato, onion, sage, pepper, sugar. 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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