Why it works: Flour and butter 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
Roast the veal
Allow at least 15 minutes of cooking time per pound of veal.
Heat the oven gradually.
Baste the veal frequently with salt and water.
Baste the veal with gravy.
When the meat is nearly done, lightly dredge it with flour.
Baste the veal once with melted butter.
If the meat browns too quickly, cover it with white paper.
Finish the gravy and serve
Skim the gravy.
Thicken the gravy with 1 teaspoon of flour.
Boil the gravy.
Serve the gravy in a gravy boat.
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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Veal + buttertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,381 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Veal + flourtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,886 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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 that is slowly roasted until tender and cooked through.
- Flour
- Dredging on the meat helps form a light crust and browning; thickens the gravy.
- Melted butter
- Basting adds fat that promotes browning and a rich, glossy surface.
- Gravy
- Basting returns cooking juices to the meat, adding moisture and flavor.
The step that matters
If the meat browns too quickly, cover it with white paper.. Fast surface browning can burn before the interior cooks through. A loose covering slows browning and lets the veal finish cooking evenly.
“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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