Why it works: Sage and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
To Roast a Sucking Pig
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pig
Scald the pig and prepare it for the spit.
Dry the pig thoroughly.
Stuff the body with bread crumbs, sage, butter, salt, and pepper or cayenne.
Sew the pig up.
Truss the pig with forelegs skewered back and hind legs forward.
Roast
Roast the pig over a strong clear fire, keeping it at a moderate distance to avoid scorching.
Rub the pig with butter using a cloth as it warms, repeating this process while roasting.
Place basins under the pig to catch the dripping gravy.
When the pig is light amber brown and steaming, dry it with a clean cloth.
Rub the pig with cold butter.
Hang a large flat iron in the center of the grate when it is half done to ensure even cooking.
Carve and serve
When ready, place the pig in a hot dish.
Remove the spit.
Open the head and split the body.
Chop the stuffing and brains together.
Mix the chopped mixture with veal gravy, Madeira or sherry, and the pig's gravy.
Pour some gravy under the roast.
Serve the rest hot in a tureen.
Optionally add mace, cayenne, and lemon juice.
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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Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,388 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Bread + sagetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,778 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sage + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,312 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb juices and fat in the stuffing, keeping the filling moist and light.
- Butter
- Adds fat that bastes the skin, promoting browning and a rich flavour.
- Sage
- Contributes a savoury, aromatic herbal flavour to the stuffing.
The step that matters
Roast over a moderate distance from the fire. Too close a fire scorches the skin before the thick meat cooks through, while regular basting and turning help the skin brown evenly and stay moist.
Swap the sage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, pepper):
- Parsleyfits about as well
- Sagethe original
- Thymefits about as well
- Nutmegfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, pepper. 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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