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 ↓
Sausage Meat.— No. 2
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Remove strings from the fat and skin from the tenderloins before weighing.
Grind the meat and fat twice using a meat grinder.
Add sage, black pepper, salt, and cayenne pepper; mix well with your hands.
Pack the mixture into a stone jar and store in a cool place.
Cook
When ready to cook, form into small cakes and fry until golden brown.
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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Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,388 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tenderloins
- Provide the lean meat that forms the bulk of the sausage.
- Leaf fat
- Adds moisture and richness, keeping the sausage juicy during frying.
- Ground sage
- Contributes the characteristic savory, aromatic flavour of sausage.
- Salt
- Seasons the meat and helps it hold together when formed into cakes.
The step that matters
Grinding the meat and fat twice. Fat that is cut unevenly or ground too coarsely can smear or separate during frying, leaving dry or greasy patches. Two passes through the grinder distribute the fat evenly through the lean meat.
“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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