Name: Marengo Cutlets with Rice
Ingredients: 1/4 cup flour; 1 teaspoon onion salt; 1/2 teaspoon seasoned pepper; 6 boneless veal cutlets*, about 1-1/2 pounds; 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil; 1/4 cup dry white wine; 1 cup beef broth; 1/2 cup sour cream; 1 cup canned tomatoes, drained and chopped; 1 bay leaf; 3 cups hot cooked rice

Why it works: Onion and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

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.

Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beef + tomatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,448 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Veal cutlets: Provide the main meat, which becomes tender during the covered simmer.
Flour: Coats the cutlets and thickens the sauce as it blends with the broth.
Sour cream: Adds richness and a tangy note that softens the sauce.
Dry white wine: Adds acidity and lifts the flavorful browned bits from the skillet into the sauce.
Canned tomatoes: Add acidity, body and moisture to the sauce.

The step that matters

Cover and simmer until tender. Simmering gently over low heat breaks down connective tissue in the veal slowly. Too vigorous a boil can toughen the meat and reduce the sauce too quickly.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, onion, pepper, veal, white wine, beef, cream):

Leekfits better
Potatofits better
Chivefits better
Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, onion, pepper, veal, white wine, beef, cream. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Beef	100g cooked	250
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Veal	not in our table	0

Marengo Cutlets with Rice