Name: Puerco Pibil Asado Recipe
Yield: 12-15 servings
Ingredients: Dry Rub (recipe follows); 7-8 lbs pork ribs or pork shoulder, bone-in; 2 Anaheim peppers, cored and seeded, white membrane removed, rough chopped; 3 large favorite onions, peeled and cut into sixths; 1 head of garlic, cut in half width-wise and wrapped in a cheesecloth bag to prevent garlic skins from escaping; 8-10 oz jar jalapeno jelly; 1 c. orange juice; 4 T vegetable oil; 2 TBL kosher salt; 1 TBL smoked salt; 3 TBL brown sugar; 3 TBL onion powder; 2 TBL garlic powder; 2 TBL Worcestershire powder (if unavailable, substitute 4 T Worcestershire sauce poured into the orange juice); 2 tsp black pepper; 1 tsp dried sweet or regular basil; 1 tsp ground cloves; 1 tsp chili powder; 1 tsp chipotle chili powder (if unavailable, substitute another tsp of regular chili powder); 1 tsp smoked paprika; 1 tsp paprika

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

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.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Garlic + jalapenotop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,700 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Pepper + garlictop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,090 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,214 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + orangetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,402 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

Swap the orange

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

Avocadofits better
Limefits better
Mangofits better
Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, pepper, onion, garlic, jalapeno, sugar, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Pork	100g cooked	242
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Orange	1 medium (131g)	62
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Cloves	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Puerco Pibil Asado Recipe