Why it works: Carrot and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,002 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Veal Cutlets
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the veal
Dip the veal pieces into fine bread crumbs.
Sauté the veal in a little pork until light brown.
Make the gravy
In a saucepan, place a piece of raw veal at the bottom.
Add water, lemon rind, carrot, turnip, onion, walnut catsup, salt, cayenne, and capers.
Simmer slowly for 3.5 hours or more.
Strain the gravy and pour it over the veal.
Serve
When serving, sprinkle the chopped yolk of the hard-boiled egg and capers over the dish.
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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Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Turnip + oniontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,585 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Lemon + carrottop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,351 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Carrot + walnuttop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together506 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Veal
- Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender during long, slow simmering.
- Fine bread crumbs
- Coat the veal, giving a light brown crust when sautéed.
- Carrot
- Adds sweetness and body to the gravy as it simmers.
- Onion
- Adds savory depth and aroma to the gravy.
- Hard-boiled egg yolk
- Adds a rich, crumbly garnish to the finished dish.
The step that matters
Simmer slowly. Long, gentle simmering breaks down the connective tissue in veal, making it tender. A rapid boil toughens the meat and can make the gravy cloudy, so keep the liquid at a bare simmer.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, bread, pork, carrot, turnip, onion, walnut):
- Avocadofits better
- Coconutfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Cherryfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, bread, pork, carrot, turnip, onion, walnut. 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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