Name: Ragout De Veau Au Roux
Ingredients: 2 pounds veal, cut into 2-inch cubes; 2 tablespoons butter; 3 cups beef broth (or water if broth is unavailable); ¼ cup flour

Why it works: Veal and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,784 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

Ragout De Veau Au Roux

Ingredients

2 pounds veal, cut into 2-inch cubes
2 tablespoons butter
3 cups beef broth (or water if broth is unavailable)
¼ cup flour

Directions

In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat.
Add the veal cubes and cook until browned.
Remove the veal and drain excess fat.
Deglaze the skillet with the beef broth, scraping up any browned bits.
In a separate pan, make a roux by cooking the flour over low heat until golden.
Combine the roux with the deglazed broth, stirring until smooth.

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.

Veal + beeftop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,784 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + beeftop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,847 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Veal + buttertop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,381 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Beef + flourtop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together10,677 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

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Ragout De Veau Au Roux