Name: Loin of Pork, Baked
Ingredients: 3 to 4 lbs loin of pork; 9 potatoes, peeled and quartered; 4 apples, peeled and quartered; 3 onions, peeled and quartered; salad oil; gravy

Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Loin of Pork, Baked

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Score the skin of the pork in narrow lines and brush it with salad oil.

Roast

Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 40 minutes.
Add the potatoes, apples, and onions to the tin with the meat and continue to cook gently for 2 to 2½ hours.

Serve

When ready, arrange the vegetables and apples on a hot dish, place the meat in the center, and serve the gravy separately.

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.

Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pork + potatotop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,668 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,214 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pork + appletop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,581 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Potato + appletop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together603 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Loin of pork: Forms the main protein; slow cooking keeps the meat tender and moist.
Potatoes: Absorb roasting juices and turn soft and starchy while browning at the edges.
Apples: Add natural sweetness and soften into a tender, lightly caramelised accompaniment.
Onions: Soften and sweeten as they cook, adding savoury depth to the pan juices.

The step that matters

Add the potatoes, apples, and onions to the tin with the meat and continue to cook gently for 2 to 2½ hours.. Cooking gently over a long period lets the connective tissue in the pork break down, so the meat stays moist rather than drying out. Adding the vegetables at this point lets them cook in the pan juices and soften evenly.