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To Prepare Souse

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

To Prepare Souse

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Thoroughly clean the pigs' feet and ears in lukewarm water.

  2. Remove the hoofs with a sharp knife and cut off any rough parts.

  3. Singe the feet and boil them for about 5 hours until tender.

  4. Remove from the pot and place in cold water, saving the cooking liquid.

  5. Take out the bones and pack the meat tightly in a wooden or stone vessel.

  6. Boil the reserved cooking liquid with an equal amount of vinegar for 4 hours.

  7. Add salt, cloves, allspice, and cinnamon to taste.

  8. Pour the hot vinegar mixture over the packed meat.

  9. When ready to serve, fry the souse.

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. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Vinegar + allspicetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  5. Vinegar + clovetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,386 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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