Why it works: Milk and wheat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓
Veal Chops
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the chops
Cut veal chops about 1 inch thick and beat them flat with a rolling pin.
Pour boiling water over the chops and set them over the fire for 5 minutes.
Remove the chops and wipe them dry.
Mix 1 tablespoon of coarse sea salt and 1 teaspoon of black pepper for each pound of meat.
Rub the salt and pepper mixture over each chop.
Coat and cook
Dip each chop first into the beaten egg, then into rolled crackers.
Fry the chops in hot lard or beef dripping, or broil them over a clear fire until well done.
Turn the chops carefully once or twice.
Place sweet butter on a steak dish.
Alternatively, dip the chops into a batter made of 1 beaten egg, ½ cup of milk, and enough wheat flour to make a batter.
You can also dip the chops directly into wheat flour without parboiling.
Heat lard or beef fat in a frying pan.
Lay the chops in the pan.
Turn them when one side is a fine brown.
Once cooked, add a little hot water to the pan.
Serve with the chops.
Make the flour gravy
For flour gravy, after frying, add 1 tablespoon of fat to the pan.
Let it become boiling hot.
Mix a small tablespoon of wheat flour with cold water.
Add more salt and pepper to the gravy.
Gradually stir in the batter.
Cook until brown.
Serve over the meat.
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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Milk + wheattop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,418 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + wheattop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together319 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Veal + beeftop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,784 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Veal chops
- The main meat; beating flat gives even thickness so it cooks through and browns evenly.
- Beaten egg
- Binds the crumb or flour coating so it sticks to the chop when frying.
- Rolled crackers
- Form a crisp, browned crust when fried or broiled.
- Wheat flour
- Thickens the gravy and forms a light coating on the chops.
- Lard or beef dripping
- Conducts heat for frying and adds savoury flavour and browning.
The step that matters
Turning the chops. Turn the chops only once or twice, after one side is well browned. Frequent flipping prevents a crust from forming and can tear the coating off, so the chop cooks unevenly and loses its crumb.
“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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