Name: Bouillon Rafraichissant De Veau
Ingredients: 1 pound veal, trimmed; 1 pound lamb, trimmed; ½ ounce cold seeds (such as coriander or fennel), wrapped in a small piece of cloth; 2 liters water; leaves of 1 lettuce; leaves of 1 borage plant; a few poppy seeds

Why it works: Lettuce and borage share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Bouillon Rafraichissant De Veau

Ingredients

1 pound veal, trimmed
1 pound lamb, trimmed
½ ounce cold seeds (such as coriander or fennel), wrapped in a small piece of cloth
2 liters water
leaves of 1 lettuce
leaves of 1 borage plant
a few poppy seeds

Directions

In a small pot, combine the veal and lamb with the cold seeds and water.
Bring to a boil, skimming off any foam, and boil for 2 hours.
Add the lettuce leaves, borage leaves, and poppy seeds.
Cover the pot and boil for an additional 15 to 20 minutes.
Remove from heat and let steep for 15 minutes.
Strain the broth through a fine sieve and degrease it.
Serve warm in the morning on an empty stomach and in the evening three hours after eating.

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.

Lettuce + boragetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together12 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Coriander + lettucetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together455 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Coriander + boragetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together12 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Lettuce + poppy seedtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together32 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Lamb + coriandertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together506 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

Swap the poppy seed

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, lamb, coriander, lettuce, borage):

Parsleyfits better
Cuminfits better
Tarragonfits better
Poppy seedthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, lamb, coriander, lettuce, borage. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.