Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Veal Entree
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the veal
Mince and pound the veal.
Make a panada by melting the butter, then mixing in the flour and stock.
Combine the panada with the veal and pass it through a sieve.
Make the mixture
Add the egg yolks, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and cayenne.
Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks and gently fold them into the mixture.
Steam and serve
Half fill buttered molds with the mixture and steam for twenty minutes.
Serve on a bed of rice or potato, with peas in the center and pour green parsley sauce around.
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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Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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
- Forms the main body of the entrée once minced and pounded into a fine mass.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they lighten the mixture and help it set with a delicate texture.
- Egg yolks
- Bind the mixture and add richness as they set during steaming.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and stock panada, helping the veal hold moisture and stay tender.
- Butter
- Enriches the panada and adds fat that keeps the mixture moist and flavorful.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness, softening the texture of the mixture.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whipped whites trap air that lightens the mixture and helps it rise and set. Overmixing or stirring vigorously knocks out the air, leaving a dense result. Fold gently with a spatula until just combined.
“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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