Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
To Clress Scotcii-Collops the French Way
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the veal
Cut the veal into thick collops, about 5-6 inches long and 3 inches wide.
Rub the collops with the egg yolk, then season with pepper, salt, nutmeg, and parsley.
Place the collops on an earthen dish and set them before the fire.
Cook and serve
Baste with butter and brown on one side, then turn and repeat on the other side.
Prepare a brown gravy with truffles and morels.
Dish up the collops, topping with truffles, morels, and yolks of hard-boiled eggs.
Garnish with crispy parsley and lemon.
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 + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,062 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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, cooked by browning in thick collops.
- Egg yolk
- Coats the collops and helps the seasoning cling to the surface.
- Butter
- Basting fat that carries heat over the surface and promotes browning.
- Truffles
- Add a rich, earthy aroma to the gravy and the finished topping.
- Morels
- Contribute a deep, savoury flavour and texture to the gravy and topping.
The step that matters
Brown on one side, then turn and repeat. Browning relies on steady heat and a dry surface; turning too early or too often stops a crust forming and can leave the thick collops pale and unevenly cooked inside.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, egg, pepper, parsley, butter, truffle, lemon):
- Tarragonfits better
- Thymefits better
- Marjoramfits better
- Nutmegthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, egg, pepper, parsley, butter, truffle, lemon. 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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