Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 7,874 recipes mention both. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Boiled Pig's Head , with Onion-sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the pig's head thoroughly in plenty of tepid water.
Remove the gills and throw them away.
Cut out the small veins and any pieces of bone.
Wash the head thoroughly with coarse sea salt to cleanse it from blood.
Salt and cook
Soak the head in pickle for three days.
After salting, place the head in a saucepan and cover it with cold water.
Bring the saucepan to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer gently for 1.5 to 2 hours.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Clove + oniontop 13% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together16,901 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
-
Allspice + oniontop 13% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together4,270 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pig's head
- Forms the main body of the dish, and its connective tissue turns tender and gelatinous during long simmering.
- Coarse sea salt
- Cures the meat and draws out blood, firming the flesh and seasoning it throughout.
- Onions
- Provide the base flavour for the accompanying onion sauce, adding sweetness and aroma when cooked.
The step that matters
Simmering the head gently. A rolling boil toughens meat and breaks up the tissue, so keeping the liquid at a gentle simmer lets collagen soften slowly into tender, intact 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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