Name: Veal Cutlets and Brains
Ingredients: veal cutlets; 1 beaten egg; cracker dust; ham drippings or salted lard; pepper; coarse sea salt; brains from the head of the soup

Why it works: Veal and ham are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,264 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Veal Cutlets and Brains

Ingredients

Directions

Flatten the cutlets with the broad side of a hatchet.
Dip the cutlets in the beaten egg, then coat with cracker dust.
Fry the cutlets slowly in ham drippings or salted lard.
Drain off the fat and place the cutlets in a warm dish, season with pepper, and cover.
Boil the brains for 10 minutes, then drain and cool.
Beat the brains to a paste with egg, season with pepper and salt.
Drop spoonfuls of the brain mixture into the hot fat and fry until golden.
Drain the brains and arrange them around the cutlets as a garnish.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,264 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Egg + hamtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,526 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,049 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ham + peppertop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,058 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Veal + eggtop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,845 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).