Why it works: Flour and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,459 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Veal with Oysters
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and fry
Dredge the veal pieces in flour.
Fry the veal in hot lard until nearly done.
Finish and serve
Add the oysters and thicken the mixture with flour.
Season with salt and pepper, and cook until done.
Serve hot in a covered 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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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Veal + oystertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together988 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,049 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Oyster + peppertop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,663 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + oystertop 25% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,582 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (grass, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Veal
- Provides the main meat, which becomes tender when cooked gently in fat.
- Flour
- Coats the veal for browning and later thickens the pan mixture into a light sauce.
- Oysters
- Add a briny, savoury flavour and soft texture to the finished dish.
- Lard
- Conducts heat for frying and gives the veal a rich, savoury browned crust.
The step that matters
Adding flour to thicken the oysters. Flour must cook in the hot liquid released by the oysters and veal, or it stays raw-tasting and lumpy. Stir steadily as it thickens so the sauce turns smooth rather than clumped.
“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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