Why it works: Clove and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓
Veal a LA Mode
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the veal
Wash the veal in cold water and dry it off.
Cut the outside skin to prevent curling and pound it well on both sides.
Slice the bacon, remove the skin, and cut it into wedge-shaped pieces.
Make deep incisions in the veal and lard it with bacon pieces, spaced ½ inch apart.
Brown and braise
In a Dutch oven, heat 2 ounces of butter until hot enough to brown.
Season the veal with salt and pepper, dredge with flour, and place it flour side down in the oven.
Season and dredge the other side, cover, and brown both sides until yellow‑brown.
Add bay leaves and enough hot water to reach halfway up the veal.
Cover and cook slowly for 1 hour, basting often.
Make the gravy
Once done, lift the veal into a warm chafing dish.
Skim off some fat from the gravy, then stir in 2 teaspoons of browned flour, ½ pint of hot water, mace, cloves, and vinegar.
Let it boil for a few minutes, stir from the bottom, season with salt and pepper to taste, and strain into a gravy dish.
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 + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,431 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
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Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,400 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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
- Veal
- Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender through slow braising.
- Fat bacon
- Lards the lean veal, adding moisture and savory fat as it cooks.
- Butter
- Browns the veal surface, adding color and rich flavor.
- Browned flour
- Thickens the gravy and adds color and toasted flavor.
- Cider vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens and balances the rich gravy.
The step that matters
Browning both sides before braising. Searing the flour-dredged veal in hot butter builds a golden crust through browning reactions, which adds color and flavor to the gravy. Pale or undercooked surfaces leave the sauce flat.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, butter, clove, cider, vinegar, flour, pepper):
- Allspicefits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Thymefits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, butter, clove, cider, vinegar, flour, pepper. 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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