Why it works: Mustard and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,259 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Different Ivays of Dressing Pigs Feet and Ears
Ingredients
Directions
Clean the pigs feet and ears thoroughly and soak for several hours.
Boil them until tender, then remove and set aside.
In a pot, boil vinegar and a little coarse sea salt with some of the cooking water, then let it cool and pour over the feet and ears.
When ready to serve, dry the feet and ears, cut the feet in half, and slice the ears.
Fry the pieces and serve with butter, mustard, and vinegar.
For a fricassee, cut the feet and ears into neat pieces and boil in a little milk.
Drain the milk, then simmer the pieces in veal broth with onion, mace, and lemon peel.
Before serving, add cream, flour, butter, and salt.
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.
-
Mustard + oniontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,259 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Mustard + lemontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,816 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,226 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, butter, mustard, milk, veal, onion, lemon):
- Tarragonfits better
- Capersfits better
- Thymefits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, butter, mustard, milk, veal, onion, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
You might also like
The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.
Lemon Sauce236 recipes
Veal Patties50 recipes
Beef, Mutton, or Veal Broth6 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipes