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Coriander and Pepper Ball Loaf

A chilled loaf of ground pork mixed with gelatine, coriander, pepper, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Coriander and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,949 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Coriander and Pepper Ball Loaf

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the gelatine

  1. Soak the gelatine in ½ cup of cold water.

  2. Add ⅓ cup boiling water to the soaked gelatine and stir until dissolved.

Make the loaf

  1. Combine the ground pork, gelatine mixture, and chopped hard cooked eggs in a bowl.

  2. Add salt, crushed coriander seed, white pepper, and crushed pepper balls to the mixture.

  3. Place the mixture in a square pan.

  4. Set the pan on ice.

Serve

  1. Slice the loaf.

  2. Serve cold.

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.

  1. Coriander + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,949 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,121 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. White pepper + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,478 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  4. Coriander + white peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together146 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Pork + coriandertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together909 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Cooked lean pork
Forms the body of the loaf, giving it substance and a meaty texture.
Gelatine
Sets the mixture as it cools, so the loaf holds its shape when sliced.
Hard cooked eggs
Add firmness and body to the loaf, and show as pieces in the sliced cross-section.
Crushed coriander seed
Adds a warm, citrusy aroma and flavour to the pork.

The step that matters

Set the pan on ice. Gelatine sets only when cold, so the loaf must chill thoroughly to firm up. Cooling too slowly can leave it soft and crumbly when sliced.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, egg, coriander, pepper):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Cuminfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, egg, coriander, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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