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 ↓
Mock Sweet Breads
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the veal
Cook one pound of uncooked lean veal in salted water with a slice of onion.
Then put it into cold water to whiten it.
Make the sauce
Make one cupful of white sauce, found in the catchups and sauces section of this book.
Season with salt, pepper and celery salt.
Cut the mushrooms into quarters.
Put the veal and one-half cupful of mushrooms into the sauce.
Heat over boiling water.
Take from fire when heated.
Add one teaspoonful of lemon juice and one well-beaten egg.
Garnish with potato.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 5 of 7 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Mushroom | 1/2 cup sliced (35g) | 15 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Veal | not in our table | 0 |
| Sauce | not in our table | 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.
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Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Veal + mushroomtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,446 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
-
Mushroom + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,633 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Veal + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Veal
- Provides the meaty, tender body that the dish is built around, standing in for sweetbreads.
- White sauce
- Forms the creamy base that coats the veal and gives the dish its moist texture.
- Egg
- Thickens the sauce gently and adds richness when stirred in off the heat.
- Mushrooms
- Add earthy flavor and a soft, meaty bite to the sauce.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the rich, creamy sauce.
The step that matters
Add the egg off the heat. Egg proteins set and can curdle or turn grainy when exposed to high heat, so the sauce is taken from the fire before the beaten egg and lemon juice are stirred in.
“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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