Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Breaded Veal Cutlets
Ingredients
Directions
Trim and flatten the veal cutlets.
Season with coarse sea salt and black pepper.
Roll the cutlets in the beaten egg, then in the pounded crackers.
Fry slowly in good drippings until golden brown.
Drain the cutlets and squeeze a little lemon juice on each.
Serve hot, or with tomato sauce if desired.
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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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Lemon + tomatotop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,592 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Tomato + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,469 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Veal + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the tomato
The recipe marks tomato as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, pepper, egg, lemon, sauce):
- Capsicumfits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pepper, egg, lemon, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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