Why it works: Pork and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 22,121 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Poek Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Prepare a thick batter using Indian meal and flour.
Fry the pork
Slice the pork and fry in a pan until the fat is rendered.
Dip additional pork slices in the batter.
Drop the battered pork into the hot fat, seasoning with salt and pepper.
Cook until golden brown and serve hot.
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.
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Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,121 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + porktop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,187 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and pork barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,187 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
- Indian meal and flour
- Forms a thick batter that coats the pork and crisps when fried.
- Pork
- Provides the main filling, with its rendered fat used for frying.
The step that matters
Drop the battered pork into the hot fat. If the fat is not hot enough, the batter absorbs oil and turns greasy instead of crisping quickly. Frying in properly heated fat seals the coating so it browns evenly and stays light.
“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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