Veal Cutlets

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. Onion + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together10,626 recipes

   Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

2. Veal + mushroomtop 14% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together2,446 recipes

   Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

3. Veal + oniontop 17% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together6,841 recipes

   Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

4. Sauce + oniontop 19% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together10,474 recipes

   Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

5. Sauce + mushroomtop 19% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together4,480 recipes

   Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Sauce and onion barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,474 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

Ground veal

Forms the main body of the cutlet and provides the meaty flavour and texture.

Thick white sauce

Binds the veal and keeps the mixture moist and tender.

Breadcrumbs

Form a crisp golden crust when fried.

Egg

Acts as a binder that helps the breadcrumbs adhere to the cutlet.

The step that matters

Swap the onion

The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, sauce, egg, mushroom):

1. Shallotfits better
2. Asparagusfits better
3. Capsicumfits better
4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, sauce, egg, mushroom. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.