Why it works: Pork and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,572 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol, which smells clove, smoky. The science ↓
Pease Soup and Pickled Pork
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
If the pork has been salted for more than 2 days, soak it in water overnight.
Cook
In a large pot, combine the pork and water; bring to a gentle boil.
Simmer for 2 hours, then add the pork and continue to boil gently until cooked, about 1.5 to 2 hours.
Serve
Once done, wash the pork in hot water and cut it into bite-sized pieces.
Serve the pork in the soup with optional vegetables or curry powder for added flavor.
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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Pork + celerytop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,572 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pickled pork belly
- Its fat and salt season the broth, and its slow cooking makes the meat tender.
The step that matters
Keep the water at a gentle simmer. Vigorous boiling toughens meat fibers and can break the pork apart. Slow, gentle heat lets the connective tissue soften into tender meat and keeps the broth clearer.
“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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