Name: To Boil or Fry Pork Cutlets
Ingredients: Pork loin; Salt; Pepper; Cayenne pepper; Egg; Bread crumbs; Minced sage

Why it works: Pepper and sage 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 ↓

To Boil or Fry Pork Cutlets

Ingredients

Directions

Cut the pork loin into ½-inch thick cutlets and trim them neatly.
Remove some or all of the fat if not preferred.
Dredge the cutlets with a little pepper or cayenne.
Boil them over a moderate fire for 15 to 18 minutes.
Sprinkle a little fine salt on them just before serving.
Optionally, dip the cutlets in egg and then in bread crumbs mixed with minced sage before frying.
Fry until golden brown and season with salt and pepper.
Serve with gravy from the pan or with sauce Robert.

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.

Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,388 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Pork + sagetop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,527 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Pork + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,371 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Bread + sagetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,778 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).