Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Veal Cutlets
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Dredge the cutlets with salt and pepper, dip in fine cracker crumbs, then in egg, then again in crumbs.
Cook
Saute in hot fat, either salt pork or beef drippings.
Brown well on both sides.
Place on a hot platter and surround with a tomato or Béarnaise sauce.
Make the gravy
Make a gravy by adding one tablespoonful of flour to the fat, adding one cup of stock, and seasoning with salt, pepper and a teaspoonful of lemon juice.
Season with butter, salt and pepper and pass with tartare sauce.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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.
-
Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,404 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Thickens the fat and stock into a smooth gravy.
- Cracker crumbs (in the method)
- Form a crisp, browned coating around the cutlets.
- Egg (in the method)
- Binds the crumbs to the cutlet surface.
- Stock
- Forms the liquid base of the gravy, adding savory flavor.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the gravy's flavor.
The step that matters
Browning the cutlets on both sides. The crumb coating browns through Maillard reactions only when the fat is hot enough. Starting in cool fat lets the crumbs absorb grease and turn soggy instead of crisp.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, pepper):
- Limefits better
- Lemonthe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Avocadofits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, pepper. 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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