Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Veal Stew
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the veal
Cut veal into 3‑inch pieces and wash it.
Place veal in a stewpan with water and bring to a boil.
Skim off the scum, then add pepper, salt, and butter.
Halve the potatoes and add them to the stewpan.
Make the dumplings and cook
Prepare a batter with eggs, cream or milk, salt, and enough flour to thicken slightly.
Drop the batter into the boiling stew by the spoonful.
Cover the pan tightly and boil for 20 minutes.
Serve in a deep 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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Potato + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,355 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
What each ingredient does
- Veal
- Provides the main meat, which becomes tender as it simmers in the water.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter so the dumplings hold together in the stew.
- Flour
- Thickens the batter and lightly thickens the stew liquid.
- Irish potatoes
- Starchy body that softens in the broth and adds substance to the stew.
The step that matters
Drop the batter into the boiling stew by the spoonful. The stew must be at a full boil when the batter goes in, so the dumplings set quickly on the surface. Adding batter to a weak simmer can make them dissolve or turn heavy.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, pepper, butter, egg, cream, flour):
- Leekfits about as well
- Spinachfits about as well
- Chivefits about as well
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pepper, butter, egg, cream, flour. 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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