Name: Pork Sausages
Ingredients: 1 pound pork (preferably from the chump end of a fore loin or blade bone); ½ cup gravy (or water); 2 ounces bread crumbs; 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt; 1 teaspoon black pepper; 1 teaspoon dried sage; sausage casings

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 ↓

Pork Sausages

Ingredients

1 pound pork (preferably from the chump end of a fore loin or blade bone)
½ cup gravy (or water)
2 ounces bread crumbs
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon dried sage
sausage casings

Directions

Remove the skin from the pork and cut the meat from the bones, discarding sinews and gristle.
Cut the fat and lean meat into strips about 1 inch long and ½ inch thick.
For each pound of meat, mix in ½ cup of gravy or water, 2 ounces of bread crumbs, 1 tablespoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of black pepper, and 1 teaspoon of dried sage.
Ensure the seasoning is well mixed with the bread crumbs for even flavor.
Prepare the sausage casings by arranging them on the filler and tying one end.
Fill the casings with the meat mixture, turning the handle of the machine briskly to pack it tightly.

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).
Pork + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,371 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Bread + sagetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,778 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,121 recipes

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