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Loin of Pork, Baked

A baked pork loin served with potatoes, apples, and onions, accompanied by gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Loin of Pork, Baked

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the pork

  1. Score the skin of the pork in narrow lines and brush it with salad oil.

Roast and serve

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 40 minutes.

  2. Add the potatoes, apples, and onions to the tin with the meat.

  3. Continue to cook gently for 1 to 1.5 hours.

  4. When ready, arrange the vegetables and apples on a hot dish, place the meat in the center, and serve the gravy separately.

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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Pork + potatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 recipes

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

  4. Pork + appletop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,581 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  5. Potato + appletop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together603 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Loin of pork
Provides the main meat; its fat and connective tissue keep it moist as it cooks.
Potatoes
Absorb roasting juices and fat, becoming tender and starchy while browning at the edges.
Apples
Soften and sweeten as they cook, balancing the richness of the pork.
Onions
Soften and turn sweet as they roast, adding savory depth to the pan juices.

The step that matters

Continue to cook gently for 1 to 1.5 hours. Long, gentle heat lets the connective tissue in the pork break down and keeps the meat juicy; cooking too hot or too briefly can leave it dry or tough.

Swap the apple

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

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Mangofits about as well
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, potato, onion. 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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