Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Veal
Ingredients
Directions
Pick over the cold veal, removing gristle and uneatable bits, then mince it finely.
In a large frying pan, combine veal gravy or equal parts butter and water, and heat.
Add the minced veal to the pan, stirring often and seasoning with salt and pepper.
Optionally, add a little mace, celery salt, or curry for flavor.
Cook until the veal shows a slight brownness, keeping it moist with gravy or butter and water as needed.
Prepare water toast by following a separate recipe, place it in a hot dish, and pile the cooked veal on top.
Garnish with lemon slices if desired.
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.
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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Celery + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,467 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,257 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Veal + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Pepper and mace barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the mace
The recipe marks mace as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, pepper, celery, lemon):
- Parsleyfits better
- Marjoramfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pepper, celery, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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