Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Roast Veal
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Rub the veal with sugar, salt, and pepper, using half as much sugar as salt.
Place the veal on a rack in a roasting pan.
Roast
Cook in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until nicely browned.
Baste the veal every fifteen minutes.
Cook for two and a half hours.
Make the gravy
Make a thin gravy by melting butter, adding flour, and whisking in stock or water.
Season the gravy with pepper and salt.
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.
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,049 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Veal
- The main cut of meat, which browns on the outside and becomes tender as it roasts.
- Sugar
- Promotes browning on the surface of the meat and adds a touch of sweetness.
- Butter
- Adds fat and rich flavor to the gravy.
- Flour
- Starch that thickens the melted butter and liquid into a gravy.
- Stock or water
- Forms the liquid base of the gravy and keeps it moist and thin.
The step that matters
Whisking the stock into the butter and flour. Adding the liquid gradually while whisking lets the flour disperse evenly, which prevents lumps. The starch then thickens the liquid as it heats.
“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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