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 ↓
Baked Veal
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Parboil the veal cubes.
Simmer the bones and trimmings in 1 quart of water for 2 hours to make gravy.
Assemble and bake
Place the meat in a pie dish and sprinkle with salt, nutmeg, lemon rind, and cayenne pepper.
Mix the butter and flour, divide into small pieces, and scatter over the meat.
Strain the gravy and pour it over the meat.
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until well browned.
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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Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Shoulder of veal
- Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender as it cooks.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, helping the top brown in the oven.
- Flour
- Combines with the butter to form a coating that thickens and helps the top brown.
- Lemon rind
- Adds aromatic citrus oil that brightens the flavour of the meat.
The step that matters
Baking until well browned. Browning depends on high oven heat and surface dryness. Too low a heat or too much liquid on top will steam the meat instead of browning the butter and flour crust.
“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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