Why it works: Butter and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,525 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓
Veal Ragout
Ingredients
Directions
In a skillet, melt the butter over medium heat.
Add the flour and cook until browned.
Pour in the stock and bring to a boil.
Stir in the veal, mushrooms, ketchup, and seasoning.
Reduce heat and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
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 + mushroomtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + ketchuptop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,435 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Veal + mushroomtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,446 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Mushroom + ketchuptop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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
- Provides the meat that gives the ragout its main body and savory flavor.
- Flour
- Browned with butter and thickens the stock into a smooth sauce.
- Stock
- Forms the liquid base that the flour thickens and the meat simmers in.
- Mushrooms
- Add earthy flavor and soft, meaty texture to the sauce.
- Ketchup
- Adds sweetness and acidity that rounds out the savory sauce.
The step that matters
Cooking the flour until browned. Flour cooked in butter must brown enough to lose its raw taste and to thicken evenly. Stopping too early leaves a pasty flavor, while burning gives bitterness.
“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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