Name: The Joints of Pork
Ingredients: pork with a little fat; coarse sea salt; black pepper; mace; finely shredded sage; pastry for pie; gravy from pork trimmings

Why it works: Pepper and sage 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 ↓

The Joints of Pork

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Make a well in the pastry and gradually mix in black pepper and coarse sea salt.
Let it stand by the fire.
Cut the pork into small squares or mince it.
Season the pork with mace and finely shredded sage.

Assemble and bake

Roll the pastry to your desired size, fill it with the seasoned pork, and cover with a lid.
Decorate with pastry leaves.
Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for about two hours.

Finish

Once cooled, make a slit in the top.
Pour in a little gravy made from the pork trimmings.

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.

Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,388 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Pork + sagetop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,527 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Mace + sagetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together519 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together12,257 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,121 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Pepper and mace barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Pork: Provides the main filling, and its fat keeps the meat moist and rich during baking.
Pastry: Forms the sturdy case that holds the filling and bakes into a crisp, golden shell.
Sage: Adds a savoury, herbal aroma that complements the pork.
Mace: Adds a warm, aromatic spice flavour to the seasoned pork.
Gravy: Adds extra moisture and savoury pork flavour to the finished pie.