Name: Veal Cutlets, a LA Fried Oysters
Ingredients: Veal, cut into pieces (3-4 inches square); Salt, to taste; 1 beaten egg; Crackers, rolled fine; Lard or butter, for frying

Why it works: Egg and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Veal Cutlets, a LA Fried Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

Dry the veal pieces with a towel and season with salt.
Prepare two separate dishes: one with the beaten egg and the other with the rolled crackers.
Dip each piece of veal in the egg, then coat with the rolled crackers.
Heat enough lard or butter in a skillet to nearly cover the cutlets.
Fry the cutlets until golden brown.
To make a rich gravy, add a little boiling water after the meat is done.

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.

Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Veal + buttertop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,381 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Veal + eggtop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,845 recipes

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