Name: Pork in Apple, Curry, or Digestive Sauce
Ingredients: 1 pound cold pork; 1 pint apple sauce or curry sauce or digestive sauce; gravy (optional); vegetables for garnish (e.g., green vegetables, purée of peas, or curried rice)

Why it works: Pork and apple are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,581 recipes. Both carry 4-heptenal, which smells creamy, biscuit. The science ↓

Pork in Apple, Curry, or Digestive Sauce

Ingredients

1 pound cold pork
1 pint apple sauce or curry sauce or digestive sauce
gravy (optional)
vegetables for garnish (e.g., green vegetables, purée of peas, or curried rice)

Directions

Prepare

Slice or mince the pork, ensuring it is free from excess fat.
If you have leftover gravy, heat it and warm the pork in it.

Combine and serve

Prepare your chosen sauce and combine it with the warmed pork until well flavored.
Serve the dish hot, garnished with vegetables or purée, and offer gravy on the side if desired.
For a budget-friendly option, layer the vegetables and pork with sauce in a dish, covering it to let the flavors meld.

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.

Pork + appletop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,581 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Apple + peastop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together192 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Pork + peastop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,589 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

Pork: Provides the main protein; its lean meat becomes the dish's body when warmed in sauce.
Apple sauce: Adds moisture and a sweet-tart flavor that balances the savory pork.