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Pepper Pot

A stew of veal, tripe, onions, potatoes, dumplings, and herbs simmered in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Pepper Pot

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Boil the veal in 1 gallon of water until thoroughly cooked.

  2. Remove the veal and strain the stock.

Simmer the stew

  1. Wash the pot, return the stock, and add the veal cut into small pieces, tripe, onions, and potatoes.

  2. Simmer for about 1 hour, or until all ingredients are tender.

  3. Add the herbs 30 minutes before finishing.

  4. At the same time, add the dumplings made from rolled-out flour and butter, cut into small squares.

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.

  1. Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Summer savory + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together214 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Marjoram + summer savorytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together125 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Marjoram + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  5. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Veal
Provides rich, gelatin-laden flavor to the stock as it simmers.
Tripe
Adds chewy texture that softens during the long simmer.
Onions
Break down during simmering, adding sweetness and body to the broth.
Potatoes
Soften in the broth and thicken it slightly as their starch releases.
Flour and butter dumplings
Cook in the broth, absorbing liquid and adding soft, rich dough texture.

The step that matters

Add the herbs 30 minutes before finishing. Dried herbs release aroma gradually in hot liquid, and prolonged simmering can dull their fragrance and turn them bitter, so timing matters.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, potato, marjoram, basil, summer savory, thyme, parsley):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Turnipfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, potato, marjoram, basil, summer savory, thyme, parsley. 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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