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Pork, Loin Of, Baked

A roasted pork loin served with potatoes, apples, onions, and 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 ↓

Pork, Loin Of, Baked

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 425°F (220°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C).

  2. Score the skin of the pork in narrow strips.

  3. Place the pork in a roasting pan.

  4. Surround with quartered potatoes, apples, and onions.

  5. Drizzle with salad oil.

Roast and serve

  1. Roast until the pork is cooked through and the skin is crispy.

  2. Serve with gravy.

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
Forms the main protein; its skin crisps during roasting while the meat cooks through.
Potatoes
Absorb roasting juices from the pork and soften while browning at the edges.
Apples
Soften and turn lightly sweet as they roast, balancing the savory pork and onions.
Onions
Soften and caramelize in the pan drippings, adding sweetness and savory depth.

The step that matters

Roast until the pork is cooked through and the skin is crispy. Pork can look done on the outside while still undercooked inside, so the thickest part should be checked for doneness. Crisp skin needs dry surface heat, so the skin should be scored and the oven kept hot.

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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