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Veal Stew

A stew of veal strips, potatoes, eggs, milk, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Veal Stew

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the stew

  1. Place the veal strips in a skillet and cover with cold water.

  2. Heat gently, ensuring the water does not boil away.

  3. Add the sliced potato and stew for 20 to 30 minutes until the meat is tender.

Finish and serve

  1. In a bowl, mix the flour with a little milk to create a paste.

  2. Once the meat is tender, add the fresh milk and flour mixture to the broth.

  3. Season with butter, salt, pepper, and parsley.

  4. Slice the hard-boiled eggs and add them to the broth.

  5. Bring to a boil once, then serve with or without toast.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  5. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal steak
Provides the main meat, which becomes tender through slow, gentle stewing in water.
Potato
Adds body and starch that gently thickens the broth as it cooks.
Fresh milk
Adds creaminess and mild sweetness to the broth, softening its flavor.
Flour
Thickens the milk and broth into a smoother, looser sauce.
Eggs
Add richness and a soft, firm texture when sliced into the broth.

The step that matters

Add the flour and milk paste after the meat is tender. Flour must be mixed smoothly into a paste before adding it, otherwise it clumps. Stirring it into the broth as it heats lets starch thicken evenly, and a rolling boil afterward can scorch the milk or break the sauce.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, egg, milk, flour, butter, pepper, parsley):

  1. Shallotfits about as well
  2. Potatothe original
  3. Chivefits about as well
  4. Carrotfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, egg, milk, flour, butter, pepper, parsley. 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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