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 ↓
To Roast a Sucking Pig
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pig
Scald the pig if freshly killed.
Stuff the belly with sage, bread crumbs, salt, and pepper.
Sew the belly up.
Skewer the legs back to ensure crispness.
Roast
Roast over a brisk fire until thoroughly dry.
Rub the pig with butter using a dry cloth.
Dredge flour over the pig.
Do not touch it again until serving.
Carefully scrape off the flour with a blunt knife.
Rub the pig with the buttered cloth again.
Remove the head while roasting.
Take out the brains.
Make the sauce and serve
Mix the brains with the gravy.
Cut the pig down the back and belly.
Place it in a dish.
Garnish with ears and jaws.
Chop the sage and bread finely.
Mix with melted butter.
Pour the sauce into the dish.
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.
-
Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,388 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sage + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,115 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sage + breadtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,778 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sucking pig
- Is the whole main dish, so its skin and meat are what the roasting cooks.
- Butter
- Coats the skin to add richness and help it brown as it roasts.
- Flour
- Dredged over the skin, it dries and helps form a crisp, golden crust.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb juices and fat inside the belly, keeping the stuffing moist and flavorful.
- Sage
- Adds a herbal aroma that perfumes the meat as it cooks.
The step that matters
Roast over a brisk fire until thoroughly dry. Drying the skin thoroughly before and during roasting lets it crisp rather than steam. Too little heat or moisture left on the skin leaves it soft and pale.
Swap the sage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, pepper, butter, flour):
- Parsleyfits about as well
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Sagethe original
- Marjoramfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, pepper, butter, flour. 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.
More roast pig recipes
You might also like
Brown Bread461 recipes
White Bread80 recipes
Bread Omelette60 recipes
Oatmeal Bread51 recipesThe 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.