Why it works: Wheat and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,373 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Veal Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the veal
Combine veal and hot water in a stew-pan until covered.
Add salt and bring to a boil, skimming off any scum.
When the meat is tender, transfer it to a dish to cool and remove all small bones.
Assemble the pie
Butter a pie dish and line it with pie paste.
Fill the dish halfway with the parboiled meat.
Dot the meat with butter.
Sprinkle pepper over the meat.
Dredge the meat with flour until it looks white.
Pour in some of the cooking water until nearly full.
Roll out the pie crust to about ½ inch thick.
Cut a slit in the center of the crust.
Make small incisions on either side of the slit.
Place the crust on the pie.
Trim the edges of the crust.
Bake
Bake for 1 hour at 400°F (200°C).
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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Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + wheattop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,002 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Pepper + wheattop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together984 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 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 meat that becomes tender during simmering and forms the body of the pie.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture to the meat and helps the crust brown.
- Wheat flour
- Dusted on the meat, it thickens the cooking liquid into a light gravy.
- Pie paste
- Forms the crust that encloses the filling and sets as it bakes.
The step that matters
Simmer the veal gently and skim the scum. Boiling too hard toughens the meat proteins and clouds the cooking liquid. Skimming removes impurities so the broth stays clear and the meat turns tender.
“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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