Why it works: Clove and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,386 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Calf's Brain Fritters and Batter
Ingredients
Directions
Clean the calf's brains.
Cook the brains for 20 minutes in boiling salted water with vinegar.
Add cloves, onion, and bay leaves to the water.
Remove from heat and let the brains cool in the cooking water.
Drain the brains and dry them between towels.
Cut the cooled brains into small pieces.
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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Clove + vinegartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,386 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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