Name: Pineapple-Braised Pork Sandwiches Recipe
Yield: 20 mini sandwiches
Ingredients: 2 teaspoons kosher salt; 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper; 4 pounds boneless pork shoulder, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 4-inch pieces; 1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil; 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and quartered; 20 garlic cloves, peeled (from 1 medium head); 1/4 cup peeled and finely grated fresh ginger (from about a 5-inch piece); 1 1/2 cups naturally sweetened pineapple juice; 1 cup sake or dry sherry; 1/2 cup soy sauce; 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar; 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice; Pinch cayenne pepper; 1/2 medium jicama, very thinly sliced into 1-1/2-by-2-inch pieces; 1/4 medium pineapple, very thinly sliced into 1-1/2-by-2-inch pieces; 20 sweet Hawaiian rolls, split in half horizontally and toasted

Why it works: Clove and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. 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.

Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,038 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Garlic + gingertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,402 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

Swap the pineapple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, pork, olive, onion, garlic, clove, ginger):

Limefits better
Avocadofits better
Lemonfits better
Pineapplethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, pork, olive, onion, garlic, clove, ginger. 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
Pineapple	1 cup chunks (165g)	82
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Jicama	1 cup (120g)	46
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Sake	1 oz (30ml)	39
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Lime	juice of 1 lime (44ml)	11
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Olive	1 large (4g)	4
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Pineapple-Braised Pork Sandwiches Recipe