Why it works: Sage and pepper 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 ↓
Roast Pig
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Clean, skin, and wash the pig thoroughly.
Make a dressing by mixing onions, sage, butter, pepper, salt, bread crumbs, and egg.
Fill the pig with the dressing and sew it up with strong thread, trussing the front legs forward and hind legs against the body.
Place a small piece of wood between the jaws to keep them slightly open.
Rub the pig all over with butter, pepper, and salt, then dredge with flour.
Roast and serve
Place the pig in a pan with a little boiling water and cook in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C).
Baste frequently, especially as it nears completion.
After about 3 hours, remove the wood and replace it with a corn cob or small red apple.
Serve with apple sauce.
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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Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,388 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + sagetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,628 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pig
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooked whole so the stuffing sits inside it.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb the butter and onion juices, giving the dressing body and a soft, moist texture.
- Egg
- Binds the dressing together so it holds its shape when stuffed and cooked.
- Butter
- Adds fat that keeps the dressing moist and helps the skin brown as it roasts.
- Onions
- Add moisture and savoury sweetness to the dressing as they soften during cooking.
- Flour (in the method)
- Dredging helps the outer surface brown and form a crisp, golden crust.
The step that matters
Basting during the roast. Frequent basting keeps the surface moist and carries fat over the skin, so it browns evenly instead of drying out during the long slow roast.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sage, butter, pepper, bread, egg):
- Capsicumfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Chivefits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sage, butter, pepper, bread, 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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