Name: Spare Rib of Pork
Ingredients: spare ribs of pork; coarse sea salt; sage; gravy; apple sauce

Why it works: Sage and apple work together. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 755 recipes. Both carry 2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

Spare Rib of Pork

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Skewer the spare ribs crossways and tie them to a spit.
Roast the ribs over a hot fire at 400°F (200°C), basting often.
When done, place them on a dish and sprinkle with finely chopped sage.
Serve with gravy and apple sauce on the side.

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.

Sage + appletop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together755 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Pork + sagetop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,527 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Pork + appletop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,581 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Pork + saucetop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,666 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sage + saucetop 29% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together444 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).