Why it works: Bread and sage are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,778 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
A Roasted Pig
Ingredients
Directions
Cut off the head close to the ears.
Remove the collar piece; if the pig is large, cut off two collar pieces.
Slice the pig through the middle of the back from shoulder to tail.
Take out the bread and sage stuffing.
Split the head, remove the brains, and mix them with the bread and gravy for sauce.
Arrange the pieces on a serving dish as shown in the woodcut, with half the head at each end and the collar piece near the shoulders.
Separate the legs and shoulders.
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.
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Bread + sagetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,778 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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