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Pig’s Fry As Mock Goose

A casserole of pig’s fry (harslet) layered with potatoes, onion, apple, and sage, baked until tender.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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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 ↓

Pig’s Fry As Mock Goose

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Boil the potatoes until half cooked, then cut them into slices.

  2. Chop the onion and apple small.

Assemble and bake

  1. Grease a pie dish and layer sliced potatoes at the bottom.

  2. Add a layer of pig's fry, sprinkle with onion, apple, sage, salt, and pepper.

  3. Cover with another layer of potatoes and repeat the layering process until the dish is full, ending with potatoes.

  4. Pour in ½ cup of water and cover with pig's caul or greaseproof paper.

  5. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 1.5 hours.

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.

  1. Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  3. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  4. Apple + sagetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together755 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Form the bulk of the dish and soften into a tender, starchy layer as they bake.
Harslet
Provides the rich, meaty filling that flavours the layers as it cooks.
Apple
Adds a touch of sweetness and moisture that balances the savoury meat.
Onion
Adds savoury flavour that deepens as it cooks with the meat and potatoes.

The step that matters

Covering the dish before baking. The water and the caul or greaseproof cover trap steam, keeping the layers moist so the meat cooks through without drying out.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, onion, sage, pepper):

  1. Limefits better
  2. Lemonfits better
  3. Avocadofits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, onion, sage, pepper. 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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