Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Veal Pot Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the veal
Stew the veal pieces until tender.
Make the dumplings
In a bowl, mix the flour and baking powder.
Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Cut out dumplings with a biscuit cutter.
Finish the pot pie
After the veal has boiled for 30 minutes, drop the dumplings into the stew.
Season the stew with salt and pepper to taste.
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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,049 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Veal + buttertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,381 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Flour and butter 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
What each ingredient does
- Veal
- Provides the meat and savory flavor of the stew after it is stewed until tender.
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the dough structure of the dumplings, setting as they cook in the stew.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas that makes the dumplings rise and turn light.
- Butter
- Rubbed into the flour to add richness and a tender, crumbly texture.
The step that matters
Drop the dumplings after the veal has boiled 30 minutes. Dumplings added too early can break down or become gummy in the stew, while adding them too late leaves them raw. Timing the drop after the stew is already simmering lets them steam through and cook evenly.
“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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