Why it works: Pork and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,214 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Leg of Pork
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Rub the rind of the pork with sweet salad oil to prevent burning and enhance crispiness.
Score the rind with six or seven cuts, about ½ inch apart, if not already done by the butcher.
Stuff the leg of pork under the flap with sage and onion stuffing if desired.
Roast
Place the pork about 12 inches from the fire to cook gradually.
Baste the pork often as it cooks.
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 + oniontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,214 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pork + sagetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,527 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Sage + oniontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,628 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Leg of pork
- The main cut; gentle, distant heat cooks it through gradually without scorching the outside.
- Sweet salad oil
- Coats the rind to help it brown and crisp and guards against scorching.
The step that matters
Placing the pork about 12 inches from the fire. Radiant heat from an open fire can char the rind quickly while the meat inside is still cold. Keeping the joint at a distance lets heat penetrate slowly, so the centre cooks through as the surface browns evenly.
Swap the sage
The recipe marks sage as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, onion):
- Garlicfits better
- Thymefits better
- Cuminfits about as well
- Sagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, onion. 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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