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Spring-stew of Veal

A stew of veal cutlets with cucumbers, lettuce, green gooseberries, and green onions simmered in water or broth.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Acton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,409 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Spring-stew of Veal

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the veal

  1. Cut the 2-pound veal into small half-inch thick cutlets, removing fat.

  2. Flour the cutlets well.

  3. Season the veal with salt and pepper before flouring, and leave a portion of fat on it if preferred.

Brown and stew

  1. Fry the cutlets in butter with the sliced cucumbers, pepper, floured lettuce, and 24 green gooseberries cut open lengthwise and seeded.

  2. Add the green onions (cut small) to the vegetables if desired.

  3. When the cutlets are nicely browned, lift them into a thick saucepan.

  4. Gradually pour in half a pint (or more) of boiling water, broth, or gravy.

  5. Add salt and pepper to taste.

  6. Give the stew a minute's simmer, pouring it over the meat and shaking the pan well as this is done.

  7. Let the veal stew gently for three-quarters of an hour to an hour.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

191Calories
3 gProtein
14 gFat
16 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Vegetable1 tbsp (14g)120
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Cucumber1/2 cup sliced (52g)16
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Lettuce1 cup shredded (36g)5
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Vealnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Eliza Acton. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

  1. Cucumber + lettucetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,409 recipes

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

  2. Onion + lettucetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,562 recipes

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

  3. Onion + cucumbertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,050 recipes

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

  4. Lettuce + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,037 recipes

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

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 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
Forms the main body of the stew and becomes tender during slow simmering.
Butter (in the method)
Fat for frying the cutlets, promoting browning and flavour.
Flour (in the method)
Coats the cutlets so they brown and help thicken the cooking liquid.
Cucumbers
Soften during cooking, adding moisture and a mild, fresh flavour.
Lettuce
Wilts when cooked, adding body and moisture to the stew.

The step that matters

Browning the floured cutlets. Frying the floured veal until nicely browned builds flavour through the Maillard reaction and sets the coating, so the liquid added later does not wash it away or taste flat.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, cucumber, lettuce, pepper):

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Beetrootfits better
  3. Cauliflowerfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, cucumber, lettuce, 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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