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Hashed Pork

Thin slices of seasoned pork simmered in a broth of vinegar, onion, sage, and mace.

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

Hashed Pork

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pork

  1. Cut cold pork into thin slices.

  2. Season the slices with pepper and salt, then coat with flour.

Make the broth and serve

  1. In a saucepan, combine broth or water with vinegar, onion, sage, and mace; bring to a boil.

  2. Strain the mixture and add the pork slices.

  3. Heat until warmed through, then serve.

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. Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

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

  2. Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  4. Pork + sagetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,527 recipes

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

  5. Onion + sagetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,628 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold pork
Provides the meat that is warmed through and served in the seasoned broth.
Flour
Coats the slices so the surrounding liquid thickens slightly and clings to the meat.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the broth.
Onion
Adds savoury aroma and sweetness to the broth as it simmers.
Sage
Contributes herbal aroma to the broth.
Mace
Contributes warm, spiced aroma to the broth.

The step that matters

Heat until warmed through. Pork is already cooked, so it only needs gentle heat. Holding it at a hard boil for long pushes muscle proteins to tighten and squeeze out moisture, leaving the meat dry and tough.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Garlicfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, pepper, flour, vinegar, onion, sage. 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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