Name: White Fricassee of Veal
Ingredients: 4 pounds shin of veal; 2 quarts boiling water; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon salt; ¼ teaspoon pepper; 3 tablespoons butter; 1 tablespoon minced onion

Why it works: Pepper and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

White Fricassee of Veal

Ingredients

Directions

Have the butcher saw the shin of veal into three parts and trim it near the hoof end.
Wash the veal and place it in a stewpan with boiling water and salt.
Bring to a boil, skim, and then simmer for 3.5 hours.
Remove from heat and let the meat cool on a platter.
Pour the cooking liquid into a bowl.
Once cooled, cut the meat from the bones and into small pieces, yielding about a quart.
Season the meat with salt and pepper.
In a frying pan, melt butter and cook minced onion slowly for 5 minutes.
Add the veal to the pan and proceed with further instructions.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together42,912 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Veal + oniontop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,841 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,049 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).