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Veal, Fricandeau

A slow‑cooked veal stew with bacon, carrots, onions, herbs, and spices, finished in the oven.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,601 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Veal, Fricandeau

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a brisk oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Trim the veal and make 2-3 slits in the middle for seasoning.

  2. Lard the veal thickly with fat bacon.

  3. Slice the vegetables.

  4. Place the sliced vegetables with herbs and spices in a stewpan, topped with bacon.

  5. Lay the veal over the bacon.

  6. Sprinkle with salt.

  7. Add enough stock to cover the bacon without touching the veal.

Braise

  1. Bring to a boil.

  2. Simmer gently for about 2½ hours, basting frequently.

  3. Before serving, place in a 300°F (150°C) oven to firm the bacon.

Serve

  1. Serve with a purée of seasonal vegetables.

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.

  1. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Mace + white peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,695 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  3. Carrot + macetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. Veal + carrottop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Onion + macetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,078 recipes

    Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Veal
Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender through slow, gentle simmering.
Fat bacon
Lards the veal, adding moisture and rich fat that bastes the meat as it cooks.
Carrots
Flavour base that sweetens and aromatises the braising liquid.
Onions
Flavour base that adds savoury depth and sweetness to the braising liquid.

The step that matters

Simmer gently. A gentle simmer keeps the connective tissue in the veal breaking down slowly, so the meat becomes tender without toughening or drying out. A hard boil tightens the proteins and can make the meat tough.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, carrot, onion, mace):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Celeryfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, carrot, onion, mace. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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