Why it works: Pepper and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Mock Pigeons
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the rolls
Remove the bone from the veal fillets and flatten them with a hatchet.
Spread the fillets with a mixture of crumbs and chopped ham, seasoned well.
Roll the meat up tightly and bind into oblong rolls with kitchen string.
Bake
Place the rolls in a dripping pan and pour 2 cups of boiling stock over them.
Cover with a pan and bake at 350°F (175°C) for nearly 2 hours, basting with the gravy.
Finish the gravy and serve
Once done, transfer to a hot dish and thicken the gravy with browned flour.
Season the gravy with pepper, salt, and tomato ketchup, and boil for 1 minute.
Pour part of the gravy over the rolls and serve the rest in a separate dish.
Carefully remove the strings from the meat before serving.
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.
-
Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Meat + hamtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,095 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Ketchup + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,435 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,264 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Meat + tomatotop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,438 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Veal fillets
- Forms the main meat that is rolled around the stuffing and cooks until tender.
- Crumbs
- Absorb juices in the force-meat, giving the stuffing body and a moist texture.
- Chopped ham
- Adds savoury, salty flavour to the stuffing inside the rolls.
- Stock
- Forms the cooking liquid that becomes the gravy and keeps the rolls moist while baking.
- Browned flour
- Thickens the gravy and adds a toasted, deeper colour and flavour.
The step that matters
Bake covered with basting. Veal is lean and can dry out over a long bake. Covering the rolls and basting them with the stock-based gravy keeps moisture in and helps the meat stay tender.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, meat, ham, pepper, ketchup, flour):
- Shallotfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, meat, ham, pepper, ketchup, flour. 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.
You might also like
Meatless Tomato Soup23 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Cream of Tomato Soup107 recipes
Tomato Bisque61 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.