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 ↓
Veal Curry
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the curry
Fry the veal pieces in butter until light brown, along with the chopped onion.
While hot, rub the veal pieces with curry powder.
Transfer the veal to a stewpan and add veal broth, pepper, salt, and butter.
Stew and finish
Stew very slowly until the meat is tender.
If desired, add lemon juice or Indian pickle liquid for acidity.
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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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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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
What each ingredient does
- Veal breast
- Provides the meat that becomes tender through slow stewing in liquid.
- Butter
- Adds fat and helps the veal and onion brown during the initial frying.
- Onion
- Adds savory sweetness and body to the curry base as it softens and browns.
- Curry powder
- Supplies the main spice aroma and flavor, bloomed on the hot meat.
- Veal broth
- Provides the cooking liquid that moistens the meat during the long stew.
The step that matters
Stew very slowly until the meat is tender. Gentle, low heat lets collagen in the veal break down into gelatin, making the meat tender and moist. Boiling vigorously toughens the proteins and can leave the meat dry and chewy.
“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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