Name: Fraise De Veau a LA Vinaigrette
Ingredients: 2.2 pounds veal sweetbreads, cleaned and soaked; 5 liters water; 1 large bouquet of herbs (1 ounce parsley, 0.2 ounces thyme, 0.2 ounces bay leaf); 7 ounces onions, chopped; 3 cloves; 1 garlic clove, crushed; 2 ounces coarse sea salt; 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns

Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Fraise De Veau a LA Vinaigrette

Ingredients

2.2 pounds veal sweetbreads, cleaned and soaked
5 liters water
1 large bouquet of herbs (1 ounce parsley, 0.2 ounces thyme, 0.2 ounces bay leaf)
7 ounces onions, chopped
3 cloves
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 ounces coarse sea salt
1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

Blanch the sweetbreads in boiling water, then cool them in cold water.

Cook

In a large pot, combine water, herbs, onions, cloves, garlic, salt, and pepper.
Bring to a boil, skim off any foam, then simmer for 2 hours.
Drain the sweetbreads and place them on a serving platter.

Serve

Serve with oil, capers, chopped onions, and parsley.

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.

Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,057 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Thyme + clovetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,108 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Parsley + garlictop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,308 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Thyme + garlictop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,608 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Veal sweetbreads: Provide the tender, delicate texture that is the main component of the dish.
Onions: Add sweetness and aromatic flavor to the cooking liquid.
Herbs: Infuse the cooking liquid with aromatic, savory flavor.

The step that matters

Skim off the foam after bringing to a boil. Foam contains coagulated proteins and impurities that can cloud the liquid and taint the flavor. Skimming keeps the broth clear and clean-tasting before the long, gentle simmer.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, parsley, thyme, onion, garlic):

Marjoramfits better
Winter savoryfits better
Sagefits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, parsley, thyme, onion, garlic. 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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Fraise De Veau a LA Vinaigrette