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Collared Pig

Collared Pig is a stuffed pig filled with force-meat, ham, pickled cucumbers, bacon, fowl, and omelet, then stewed.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Meat and ham are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,095 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Collared Pig

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pig

  1. Prepare the boned pig and set aside.

  2. Mix the light force-meat with beaten spices.

  3. Layer the force-meat, slips of ham, pickled cucumbers, bacon, fowl, and omelet alternately inside the pig.

  4. Roll up the pig tightly.

Wrap and stew

  1. Wrap the rolled pig in a cloth.

  2. Tie each end of the cloth and sew the middle of the cloth.

  3. Place the wrapped pig in a stewpan.

  4. Cover with stock.

  5. Stew for 2.5 hours.

Press, finish and serve

  1. Remove the pig from the liquid.

  2. Tighten the ties.

  3. Place between two boards with a weight to press it.

  4. Let the pig cool.

  5. Unwrap the cloth.

  6. Trim the pig.

  7. Serve whole or sliced, garnished with chopped savory jelly.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Meat + hamtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  2. Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Meat + eggtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,432 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Cucumber + eggtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,346 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Meat + cucumbertop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together323 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

What each ingredient does

Light force-meat
Forms a soft, moist stuffing that fills the cavity and binds the layers together.
Omelet of eggs
Adds set egg structure and richness, holding its shape as slices within the roll.
White meat of fowl
Contributes lean, delicate meat that stays tender through long gentle stewing.
Fat bacon
Adds fat that melts during stewing, keeping the lean layers moist and flavorful.
Pickled cucumbers
Provides acidity that cuts the richness of the meats and fat.

The step that matters

Tightening the ties and pressing while cooling. Pressing the rolled pig between boards with a weight compacts the layers so they set into a firm, even slice; skipping or loosening this lets the stuffing crumble when cut.

Swap the cucumber

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, ham, egg):

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Cucumberthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, ham, egg. 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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