Why it works: Tomato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,633 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Veal Cutlets
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the veal cutlets by coating them in the beaten egg and then in the bread crumbs.
In a pot, combine the canned tomato, onion, bay leaf, cloves, peppercorns, and salt. Boil for 15 minutes.
Strain the mixture to remove solids.
Mix the flour with a little water until smooth, then thin it out with more water.
Gradually add the flour mixture to the hot tomato juice, stirring until thickened.
Boil for an additional 5 minutes.
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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Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,633 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Bread + tomatotop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,013 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Tomato + clovetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,474 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Onion + clovetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,901 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, bread, egg, tomato, onion, flour):
- Capersfits better
- Garlicfits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, bread, egg, tomato, onion, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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