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 ↓
Veal Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Make the filling
In a pie dish, combine veal, ham or bacon, and butter.
Stew together with seasoning and enough water to cover until tender.
Assemble and bake
Once tender, add sliced hard-boiled eggs, minced parsley, and thyme.
Cover with pastry and bake until golden.
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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Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,264 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Ham + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,475 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,526 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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 filling, becoming tender and moist as it stews.
- Ham or bacon
- Adds savory, salty flavor and some fat to the stewed filling.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat to the filling as it cooks.
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Add body and a firm, sliced texture to the filling.
- Pastry
- Forms the covering that seals the pie and browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Stewing until tender. Veal is lean and can turn dry or tough if cooked too fast or too briefly. Gentle stewing in liquid breaks down connective tissue and keeps the meat moist, so it should be fully tender before the pie is assembled and baked.
Swap the thyme
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, ham, butter, egg, parsley):
- Capersfits about as well
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Thymethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, ham, butter, egg, parsley. 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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