Why it works: Parsley and pepper 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 Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the mixture
Mix the ingredients in the order given and moisten with Veloute Sauce.
Spread the mixture on a plate to cool.
Shape and fry
Shape into croquettes, coat with breadcrumbs, and fry until golden.
Serve with Creole Sauce.
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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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Veal + oniontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,841 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Veal + parsleytop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,766 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cooked veal
- Forms the bulk of the croquette and provides the savory meat flavor.
- Veloute sauce
- Moistens the mixture so it binds and holds its shape when shaped.
- Egg yolk
- Binds the mixture and helps it hold together during frying.
The step that matters
Spread the mixture on a plate to cool. The mixture must be cool and firm before shaping, because a warm, soft mixture will not hold its shape and can slump or split when coated and fried.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, parsley, pepper, egg, sauce):
- Capsicumfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, parsley, pepper, egg, sauce. 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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