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Pork Chops

Pork chops coated in beaten eggs and seasoned cracker crumbs, then fried in lard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Pork Chops

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove the skin from the pork chops and trim any excess fat.

  2. Dip the chops in the beaten eggs, then coat with seasoned cracker crumbs mixed with salt, pepper, onion, and sage.

Fry

  1. Heat lard in a skillet over medium-high heat.

  2. Fry the chops for 20 minutes, turning often until golden brown.

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. Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  4. Pork + sagetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,527 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  5. Onion + sagetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,628 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

Pork chops
Provide the main protein that cooks through during frying.
Eggs
Bind the cracker crumb coating to the chops so it adheres during frying.
Cracker crumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating that browns in the hot lard.
Lard
Conducts heat in the skillet and helps the coating brown and crisp.

The step that matters

Fry the chops for 20 minutes, turning often. Frequent turning helps the coating brown evenly without burning. Moderate-high heat lets the crumbs crisp while the interior cooks through, and the coating should be firmly set before flipping so it does not tear off.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, egg, pepper, sage. 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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