Why it works: Cinnamon and clove 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 ↓
Pork Relish
Ingredients
Directions
Sprinkle the pork with black pepper, cinnamon, and cloves.
Roll the pork tightly and secure it with skewers and cloth.
Place it in a pot of cold water and boil until tender.
Transfer the hot pork into a jar of vinegar.
Slice the roll and serve cold.
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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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Pepper + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together4,890 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Pork + clovetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,515 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the cinnamon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, pepper, clove, vinegar):
- Allspicefits better
- Thymefits better
- Marjoramfits better
- Cinnamonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, pepper, clove, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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