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To Sugar Cure Pork

A method of curing pork with sugar, salt, saltpetre, pepper, and cloves, then smoking.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

To Sugar Cure Pork

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cure

  1. Let the pork stand in a cool place overnight above freezing.

  2. Pour enough boiling water over the mixture of sugar, salt, saltpetre, pepper, and cloves to make a paste.

  3. Mix the mixture thoroughly.

Cure the pork

  1. Rub the paste into the shank end of the pork.

  2. Rub the mixture on both sides of the pork well.

  3. Place the pork on plates in a cool room for one week.

Hang and smoke

  1. Hang the joints in a cold, dry place without them touching once the salt is absorbed.

  2. Smoke the pork within 4 weeks using cobs and fresh sawdust.

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. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Pork + clovetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,515 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

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

  4. Sugar + clovetop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together17,182 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  5. Sugar + peppertop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,401 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and clove barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 17,182 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Pork
The main meat that the cure penetrates and preserves through salting and drying.
Granulated sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the harshness of the salt in the cure.
Coarse sea salt
Draws out moisture and penetrates the meat, slowing spoilage during curing.
Saltpetre
Helps preserve the meat's pink colour during long curing.
Black pepper
Adds aroma and sharp flavour to the cured surface.

The step that matters

Hang the joints without them touching once the salt is absorbed. Air must circulate freely around each joint so the surface dries evenly and does not stay damp or spoil. Touching pieces trap moisture and can cause uneven curing or mould.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, sugar, pepper):

  1. Gingerfits about as well
  2. Marjoramfits about as well
  3. Clovethe original
  4. Cinnamonfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, sugar, pepper. 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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